In my palette below, you can see where I mixed piles of cold wax medium with various oil colors across the middle of the palette. Then across the top, I mixed some secondary shades - with a big pile of white. Along the bottom and right side of the palette are the oil colors.
As you can tell, I love multi-colored things! And I wanted this painting to have bright colors.
To begin, I took a palette knife and covered the linen panel with color. I had toned the panel with a reddish and greenish color a month or so ago, and then set it aside. So the background color was completely dry.
I kept adding color - seemingly random patches, although I intentionally had patches of darker colors near the bottom and lighter colors at the top. I kept harmonious colors together. So it wasn't as random as it might look.
Once I had all the colors I wanted on the panel, I used a paint scraper to start moving the paint around. Some long strokes and some short strokes - some to the side, some up and down.
Then I used a sponge to give it some texture. I didn't like this look at all. It was mottled and unattractive.
So, I brought back the paint-scraper and did some VERY light-handed scraping. What I found was that there was still some of the texture from the sponge showing through, and I DID like that look!
Next I used the edge of the scraper to put some vertical lines in it and then lightly pulled the scraper over a few other places.
And here is the "final" painting for today. I put quotation marks around the word "final" because I will add to it, take away from it, change it up over the next few days until it expresses what I want. It's already close to that point.
And here is the "final" painting for today. I put quotation marks around the word "final" because I will add to it, take away from it, change it up over the next few days until it expresses what I want. It's already close to that point.
One of the things I like about good abstract art is that you can see so much in the painting. I can visualize more than one scene within this painting already. I like the softness of the darks and the lights blended into each other. I will come back to this post over the next few days with updates as I continue to work on this painting.
My description makes it sound as thought I whizzed through this painting in about ten minutes. In reality, I spent over a couple hours on it. I also didn't put on gloves or my art apron - and my hands and clothes are evidence to the lack of protection. I've got to dig out the nail brush to get all the paint out from under my nails. And my shirt and pants already had paint on them - so what's a little more? Even my sandals have a drop of red paint on them!
By the way, the paint/cold wax medium is VERY thick on this panel. I would guess it would take weeks for it to dry enough not to come off easily. So changes have to be made carefully to avoid blending the colors too much and making it a muddy mess!
Update: July 6, 2017
I worked on this painting today, and I'm done! What I learned is that the previous paragraph is NOT true! The paint/cold wax medium was very thick, but when I went to work on it, it was too dry to blend any more. Wow! Apparently the cold wax medium makes it dry faster - not slower. No issue whatsoever about making it a "muddy mess." I added more blue along the bottom and tried to smooth out the vertical lines somewhat. I really like it.
And since it is already too dry to work with it further - and since I don't want to make any changes anyway - it is done! 16 x 20 oil on linen board. I actually like the first "final" copy better than this one. LOL!
Any suggestions for a title? "Beyond the City" is the first title that came to me. I don't really like that, though.
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