Recently in The Upbeat Artists Group one of my lovely members posted his latest working from his studio. He had started a large painting on paper and was clearly thrilled with how it was going so far. He was loving the simple palette and design of the painting and because it was larger than he had worked before he was struck by the impact it had on a more spacious scale. Having only just begun the work he was pondering whether he had struck gold and would call it done. We’ve all been there… falling in love too soon!
In this instance we MUST use the analogy of our first love. Those days of obsessive infatuation with a certain somebody who we barely new but we L O V E D!! His voice, his shoulders, teeth, that t-shirt he wore, his hair…. Yes, I’m going way back here folks, to the days when our loves had hair. Fortunately though we didn’t marry that guy, we moved on and hopefully settled on someone whose lovely voice actually revealed a beautiful soul.
Arriving at the final destination so soon in a painting’s journey deprives it of a history and depth in character which only a more lengthy process will give. A painting that is cut short of this process has a ‘thinness’ or a flat feel about it. What you see on the surface is all there is. When a painting has texture it delivers so much more and can be irresistible when the viewer moves in close. It is often what we experience when we see artwork in real life rather than on a screen or in a book. We all know how much more enriching that experience is.
So I thought I would take you in close to one of my paintings to demonstrate this point. A painting I did recently is called The Blue Baths. To give a little context; I filmed the whole process of this painting for my course Fix & Finish so that the students could see my process.
In the beginning stages they see me rotating the canvas many times as I try NOT to see a pathway to take. This is important, I want to build a surface that has history, lumps and bumps, and tells of time spent on this painting.
I add collage, fabric mostly, but sometimes card and paper which in the end is only visible in fragments as nearly all is covered in paint. But the edges provide a raised level of thickness which I love as they build up with paint.
Using a variety of media adds to the texture also. Oil sticks are great as they dry and when painted over become lumpy patches. When left visible they are beautiful thick marks which look so good combined with thin pencil lines as well. Oil sticks can also be smudged with a wet cloth as soon as they’re applied which looks gorgeous too.
Pastels can be used but these don’t dry, so when painted over and later scraped the paint will fall away revealing the oil pastel underneath. You can seal these with gloss medium and then they are more stable.
Layers of thick paint where brush marks are left gradually build up and make textural marks. A glaze over the top of thick paint will reveal these marks even more and always looks gorgeous in combination with smooth paint.
I hope you can now see the benefits of staying in the process long enough to build a surface and provide some history in the surface of your painting. Remember that if you created something beautiful at the beginning of your painting, you are just as capable and likely to create something equally beautiful at the end of the process too. In fact, it will be MORE beautiful because you hung in there and nailed some gorgeous texture as well. You are maximizing the viewer experience!
If you want to learn more about my process of building a painting in layers have a look at my stARTs course where I teach 5 different methods to create an abstract painting. It’s a technique extravaganza showing you how to make abstract mixed media artwork with freedom and ease without worrying about the final outcome.
So back to your paintings folks! Stay in the process nice and long, build those layers, lay down some history and THEN fall in love.