when it feels right.

Walk In The Woods
oil on panel - 12 x 16 -$450

Do you ever wish you could press "pause" and "rewind" while painting?  I do.  How to get back to those spontaneous and fresh marks full of  passion, before time allows sober second thought, reworking / tweaking until the original idea is lost somewhere in the blurred vision of your process?!  ha ha ha...  thankfully, it's only art; and what doesn't work, can teach us a lot!  I've been struggling with my paintings this month, so I like to think I'm gaining an education of sorts:)  Usually time and patience shows me the way.

This painting was completed in 3 separate sessions in oils...alla prima for the general idea.  A few weeks later when fully dry, I had a desire to paint out much of the original marks I'd done, using an abstract intuitive approach using opaque tones, which probably only took about half an hour, but it was a uniquely satisfying process, obliterating what I didn't like, and trusting my sub-conscious guide.  I put it on 'the shelf'.  I wasn't quite sure where it would go, but it felt good to let the muse take charge.  A couple more weeks passed, more time to ponder. Yesterday I took it off the shelf again..."what if?"... a few fresh marks.  "Ahh... so that's where my heart wanted to go."   I know it's out of season for posting on my blog in the winter... (after all I began it when it was autumn!) but I'm happy with this little painting.  
I think my favorite thing about working in oils is that it often forces me into a slow process which I have learned is best not to fight...somehow this slow unravelling feels right for me.







 

in a way of speaking...

Peonies - work in progress - oil on canvas

Alla Prima is a direct style of painting, and is literally translated from Italian meaning 'at once'.  Instead of building up layers of paint with glazes and underpainting, the painting is usually completed in one sitting with the paint expressively applied in a direct manner. 
I am struck by this "manner of speaking";  how easily it demonstrates the correlation between the way paint is applied to an inner voice of an artist.  It seems to me, a direct painting method can be a sure and confidant voice, like a song on a clear day...not stopping to think about consequences, just continuing until it's voice runs out.  No wonder it's alive and expressive!  Like a voice influenced by emotion, the process of painting mines an artist's nature, finding it's way to song.

Most painters employ a variety of process's to arrive at what "rocks their boat".  I always think that should be encouraged...having only one process becomes production which is a killjoy to the creative spirit.  

I'm really enjoying reading this book loaned to me by a friend; 'The Muse' by author Jessie Burton.  The plot is compelling and the writing  beautiful too...each paragraph like a fresh new peach.  It will appeal to any artist or art lover.