Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Coming along...


Worked a few more hours on this during this cloudy afternoon. Now a larger figure (closer) is appearing on the left - think there needs to be something between that one and the middle one too, to tie them together. Things are humming along now - too bad the forecast is for rain the next couple days, I'm on a roll...

Detail


Here's a closer view of the start of the figure on the right - just to give an idea of the texture and color...

Ok, its a beach


I've decided on the beach scene (or the painting did!) and its not just any beach - this painting is my love for Core Banks bubbling up through my love of my run at Patsy Pond - so as usual it is the emotion that drives my painting... I love North Carolina's outer banks and Core Banks are one of my favorite places in the world, so I guess it makes sense to paint them - and BIG. Now some figures are evolving out of the texture, so here's where we are today.... now its starting to get fun! ( I didn't edit out the tree in my back yard from this photo - in too much of a hurry to get back out there - you get the idea.... ; )

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Evolution of the painting...


I've been spending alot of time with this painting and its growing and changing. I'm now trying to let the painting lead me where it wants to go, and instead of a runner I'm starting to see a couple of swimmers in the texture. Think I'm going to follow that and see where it goes. I loosely suggested a figure with her back to you on the right side of the painting and then a bigger figure (closer to you) swimming on her side on the left. Can't really see it in this snapshot, but I'll post one with it more emphasized in a bit. I'm really liking the color and texture...

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Hanging to dry!


Now the first few coats of paint are dry so I got all of the canvases hung on the shed. My system works - yay! Now need to figure out what to do next - I really like the first few layers from the patio - sometimes its hard to paint over areas you already like... but I feel this one needs to develop a little further so I'm going to take the plunge...stay tuned...

Stretching out


Lovely to have some sunshine. The gesso dried over 24 hours, so I moved the canvases out to the patio to get the first coat of paint on. Did this coat flat on the ground because I'm just wanting to get some color and texture on there, not "controlling" it too much at this point...nice start!

Set-up


Thought I'd share a few shots of the prep for the BIG painting. Here I am putting up the rudimentary hanging system for the painting. It didn't quite fit on the inside of the shed, so I'm setting up outside. I prefer to be outdoors anyway...

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Prep


Ok, I gave up waiting for the rain to clear up. I had planned to work outside to add an extra coat of gesso to the canvases for the BIG painting, but since its raining I took over the living room/studio II. My husband's out of town - hopefully they'll dry before he gets home tonight so I can clean up! (Hope you're not reading my blog, honey :)....Anyway, so here are ten 3 foot by 3 foot canvases - will probably combine them to make a 6 by 15 foot painting. Its exhilarating! Stay tuned...

Monday, March 16, 2009

More on the Run


Still experimenting with this idea for a big painting about my run in the woods... here's the latest composition I've worked up with photos. Will probably end up with a cross between this and the previous post. I'll often start with a photo collage of images to get me going and then leap off from there. In the painting I plan to work in a larger view of the water (its just a slip in the background in this shot) and will have more of a sense of motion... Once the rain stops tomorrow I plan to get outside and get going with the large canvases...will be fun to log my progress here.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Next BIG thing


Haven't been able to paint for a week as I've dealt with "other stuff" so I'm raring to get back in the studio. Although I haven't had brush to canvas, I have been mulling the idea for my next painting for some time, and have been working on several collages in Photoshop to try to get the composition roughly worked out. I decided I want to go REALLY big. Last week I ordered nine 3' x 3' canvases. I'm thinking of putting them together to make a 6 foot by 9 foot painting.

One idea I'm thinking of for this big painting is a collage of my run with my dog Theo out in the Croatan National Forest. We go at least 3 times a week. Could be interesting to try to capture the different views of the woods, the passage of time as we run through them, sense of motion and the variations in color/light as we go over different days. Sounds like a tall order! I've been thinking about it alot, but now I'm ready to hit the canvas and just see where it goes. I'll keep you posted on the progress...

One of the things I hope the large size will do is help the viewer feel like they are there in the woods with us...

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Belle


I decided to take one of the splashy abstractions I started a few weeks ago and pull this face out of the texture...this one is rather large -its on a 4 x 5 foot canvas.
Update: I was just informed that "Belle" won the People's Choice award at the Arts Council of Carteret County's Art from the Heart show. Yay!