Day Breaks

Day Breaks

36" x 48" - acrylic on canvas - $700

This was one of those paintings that starts out (as most do) as one thing, going in one direction, and then over a week evolves in a good and creatively satisfying way. I did start with an idea for a large, wide 'landscape', with a high horizon line and small sky that was loosely based on a photo, but quickly put aside.

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I knew that I would not be comfortable with a lot of undefined foreground space, and that became the challenge. Once the colour palette and general value pattern was in place I decided to abstract the foreground or 'land' space into various sized shapes, suggesting landscape elements. I have been experimenting with this in the last few months and wanted to try it on a larger scale.

However, at some stage it seemed a bit boring - so I got out my Derwent inktense coloured pencils and scribbled- drew all over the painting, then with the canvas on the easel, and in a very controlled way sprayed a light mist of water on those lines and watched the intense colours come alive and drip downwards, mopping up the unwanted bits. That was fun! In the photo below you can see some of the smudged lines, that are more visible and interesting in reality.

detail

The finishing was slow and a challenge because at that point I liked so much of the painting and didn't want to loose the great bits. It has been finished for a few weeks and I have to say I am really happy with this one!

Cheerio!