Jul_20 Stages in the painting process . . .

Unless you’re an artist or live with one, you likely haven’t had the opportunity to see a painting in its various stages of development. Luckily I have taken some photos of paintings as they progressed towards completion. Here are a few examples:

Calm & Strong - experimenting with textures!

As you can see in this painting, I started without much texture and at each subsequent stage I increased the type and quality of texture. The final painting is rich with colour and texture that wasn’t apparent at the beginning. The boldness that is evident at the beginning has carried through to the end so that the character of the artwork stayed consistent.

Cocoon - experimenting with colours!

This painting began with only the warm colours on the spectrum. Then I experimented with enhancing those colours with other options. As you can see, I tried two different colours to complement the red, oranges and yellows and ended up with the blue as the best choice for contrast.

Unfurling - experimenting with a bold statement!

In the early stages, I was interested in working with the full rainbow of colours. The splash of yellow in the centre felt like a bold statement, but somehow that wasn’t enough. When I framed that splash of yellow in a tilted white structure, that seemed to give the painting it’s finishing touch.

This Way - experimenting with mood!

This painting has a calm and drifting quality that gets stronger through the various stages.

Spontaneity- experimenting with outrageous spontaneity!

This painting was a delight to create. I allowed myself free rein with playfulness and working with the unexpected. I splashed paint in the first photo. The second photo is a strip of plastic covered paint that I cut from the protective plastic covering of my work table. The third photo shows that strip attached to the painting along with some mylar painted blue circles. The fourth picture incorporates the leftover mylar from the cut out circles.