Recently I have started 4 new paintings. These babies are BIG!! Well, they’re the biggest paintings I‘ve ever done. Initially I was a little nervous about starting them as this was foreign territory. I tried not to dwell on the volume of expensive paint I was going to consume, so to quell that nagging fear I ordered another bucket of gesso. That would get me started. I bought myself a couple of wider bigger brushes and I bought a squeegee so I could move the paint around the canvas quickly with one swoop. I was concerned with economy & efficiency you see.
I paint on canvas that I wrap around cradled panels. The reason for this is I don’t like the bounce of a stretched canvas. I like a firm surface to work on – NO bouncing. So, before I could even start on the canvas I had to get some large cradled panels made up. This I did through a local joiner who did a fine job.
I cut out the large measures of canvas I needed and enlisted the help of my darling man with his nice strong hands. The canvas is stapled onto the cradled panel much the same as it is stapled onto a stretcher when it’s finished. I hate to admit this but I can’t use the staplegun!! It’s heavy duty and with all the force in the world, with gritted teeth and a few expletives, I discovered early on that I couldn’t fire it. Enter Darling Man with Nice Strong Hands.
With canvas attached to panels the next step is to gesso. To complete this I turned to my daughter. Having just started the long summer holidays and with a desperate need for some extra cash – who better? I cut a deal, demonstrated with the new squeegee and walked away.
With 3 coats of gesso the blank canvases were all mine. So, what now? The size of these canvases is at least 3 times bigger than my most recent paintings. However, I just figured that I had to do what I usually do but much bigger. I started with the first layer – mostly house paint liberally swooshed around with the squeegee, splashed some fluid paint and inks on the surface and sprayed with water. Lovely.
Since then I’ve been getting up at 6.30am pulling on whatever painting clothes are nearest and making my way robotic-like to the studio. I’ve formulated a nice little routine of washing brushes from the day before and filling a bucket of water while I wake up, and with a cup of tea in hand and a podcast to listen to, I’m ready.
What I’ve discovered about painting large is that it takes a lot longer to make a difference to the painting and it’s much more physically demanding. I was bored and tired within 2 hours!! A lengthy 4 hours of painting in FLOW just wasn’t going to happen!
I’m about a week into the process now and I’m starting to get interested in the paintings. Initially when I’m just adding paint to the surface and I know that it’ll all be covered up I find it hard to be engaged. It’s all a bit raw, the surface is quite flat and texture has yet to be built up. But in this morning’s painting session I started to respond to what was on the canvas. I mixed colours that harmonize well and I varied the size of shapes. I’m beginning to see possibilities and that’s exciting.
WIP early days, but it’s beginning to interest me now
The size of the painting really gives the work so much more impact and when I look at my smaller work sitting alongside these monsters they seem quiet and demure in comparison. It’s early days in the journey for these biggies but I’m excited and can’t wait to see where they will take me.
Here are my recommendations so far for painting big:
1. Squeegee your gesso on. Initially I negotiated a price with my daughter for at least 10 hours work + drying time. With the squeegee she did the job in less than 4 hours. Ripped off!!
2. Use large brushes and a trowel for spreading the paint around
3. Have a large wide bucket of warm water with a cloth in it for wiping down your palette knives, trowels and other tools as you work. Why warm? I’m barely out of bed and can’t be dealing with cold water!
4. Make sure you can get far away back from your painting so you can see it as a whole from a distance. For me this means backing into a bush in the garden.
5. Have a stool or low chair to sit on while you paint parts of the canvas that are low.
6. Rotate the canvas in the beginning so that the bottom becomes the top and gets a fair share of your attention
7. Use thick oil sticks for drawing (if that’s what you do), thin crayons or pencils still look good too, but won’t be seen from a distance
8. Mix up large quantities of paint and only put the colours onto your palette that you will use for each colour mix
9. When you photograph your work have an object (eg. bucket) in the picture to give a sense of scale
10. Keep an eye on your paint stock in case you need to send of an order – you don’t want to be held up waiting for supplies to arrive!
A caveat to all these recommendations about painting large is this: don’t paint large until you are confident with your process and consistently produce work you love. You don’t want to waste huge amounts of paint and energy on a large scale while you are still gaining confidence. A big mistake or failed attempt (and we all have them) would be so hard to live with or hide away in the corner of the studio.
If you would like to learn how to paint with a process that eliminates the stress or concern about the outcome and helps you grow in confidence, check out my courses. STARTS is available until February. In this course I teach 5 different ways to make an abstract painting so that you can paint with a process that gives you freedom and ease and helps you develop your unique style.
FIX & FINISH will be available again in March. This is an 8 week coaching course where I teach you the nuts and bolts so that you can navigate your way through to the finish line without getting stuck.
I am still very much in the beginning stage of these large paintings and no doubt by the time they are finished I will have learnt more of the complexities of painting large – I’ll keep you posted. You can follow along the progress on Instagram or if you want regular more detailed updates signup to my newsletter here. Wish me luck!