July in January

'Backyard, July'  - oil on canvas 48x24 in

My garden in July feels like the right subject to be painting in January... bringing my thoughts from winter doldrums to sunnier days.   I like mixing luscious tints; smearing them over top of thin washes with palette knife.  Kind of like icing a cake... the process luscious and decadent... the physicality of the oils somehow seductive.  Sometimes the drag of the canvas is a bit of a deterrent to how the paint glides.

detail

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