Start Painting!

Alright! I'm visually pumped up by perusing my books. I've sharpened my hand/eye coordination by sketching. So it's time to get started.

OK.

There it is. The blank canvas (it's so clean, so white).

Let's get started............(almost pristine).

Go ahead. Just do it!



SO, MAKE A MARK ALREADY!!!!!




Dang! Still stuck.
So, the final thing I do to overcome " white page syndrome" is tone the canvas. After that it is no longer so intimidating!

A wash of venetian red.

Now I can move forward.

I quickly sketch in the major elements with more venetian red.

Check out "Inertia 2" (earlier post) to see the sketch I am working from.

1st pass:

With thin washes of color I block in shapes, just to establish composition and get an idea of the balance of values and color. It's easy to alter anything you want at this point.
Everything is in flux and subject to change.

I keep stepping back so that I can see the whole thing at a glance. It is a small canvas (11 x14), so I don't have to step back very far. This is so I don't get caught up in one small area and forget about the rest.

2nd pass:

Another thin wash adding more color, emphasizing  some darks, intensifying some of the colors.

Still very much in flux, but getting more solid.










I'm working in oil, which takes a long time to dry. To counter this I can use any number of additives that are on the market to speed drying. But at this point the painting is so wet that any more paint I add just sinks into the paint below it, dulling the color. So I'm going to stop here and let it dry a bit overnight. By tomorrow it will be tacky and I can add paint that will retain its color saturation. Till tomorrow.......

*Tip: To make things go faster you can lay an acrylic wash on, to tone the blank canvas. It will dry much faster than an oil wash, and it is OK to paint oil on top of the acrylic. It is NOT alright to paint acrylic on top of oil. This is called the "Fat over Lean" law.