This is an oil painting of a scene next to the Mediterranean in Barcelona, Spain...maybe a good image to look at in mid-January!One of the things I have struggled with at times is the tendency to stand too close to the easel and hold the brush close up to the painting end. This can produce paintings that are too "tight" and fussed-over. In recent weeks, to guard against this tendency, I have placed a soft carpet remnant some distance from the easel. I don't wear shoes when painting in the studio and it is very easy to tell when I'm standing on the nice soft carpet at an appropriate distance from the easel, and when I've stepped off it to overwork my painting. This helps me to use more of my whole arm to paint (not just the small muscles of the fingers), to hold the brush at the opposite end from the bristles, and to see more of my painting while I paint. One gives up a little control but gains a freer and more expressive stroke. Plus it's more fun.
This oil painting is 20 x 16 inches.
Rodgers,
ReplyDeleteI love your descriptions of your willingness to experiment - surely the sign of any true artist. And although I am really enjoying this painting overall, for me there are not enough differences in edges for it to really pull into a particular focus. It's almost as if you couldn't quite decide which part of the scene was of most interest to you. Just trying to be constructive here :0)