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.... ; )

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...

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...