I’m now starting to get into the rhythm of the art department and really enjoying conversations with some of the studio practice students as we discuss their ideas. Some of the students are working on a figure in the landscape project so I thought I would start an oil painting to demonstrate the process of blocking out your composition loosely and with several layers find the form and build up the space and imagery. I have found it surprisingly difficult to work on display so to speak, it’s made me a little unsure because normally I work from my imagery, drawings photographs and allow the paint to evolve, responding and adjusting on the go. But in this particular painting I decided to limit my palette to just three colours plus white. The only challenge as normally I would have done testing colour charts before I started so I could explore all the possibilities – big mistake. I’ve stubbornly pushed through but regret not planning and being more excited about the composition before I started. There is a long way to go but the following images is a snap shot of some of the stages.
to be continued…