Notes on the painting 'Progress 05'

The last touches of a painting can take as long as the work on it up to that point.

The original study for this piece was this painting posted earlier on the daily painting blog.

Notes on the painting 'Progress 04'

One fun aspect of using a painting knife is mixing the painting directly on the canvas. It allows for thick and juicy application of the paint as well as some loss of control, which can be at the same time risky and satisfying.

Notes on the painting 'Progress 03'

Further development of the work with the painting knife.

Notes on the painting 'Progress 02'

Once the wash has been put on the canvas, I go directly to paint with no thinner and in this case, apply it with a painting knife.

Notes on the painting 'Progress 01'

One of the notions behind doing these small paintings was to create larger works from them. Before starting on any larger work, I usually create a thumbnail first - it is a good way to work out ideas quickly and as a guide during the creation of the final painting. Often these thumbnails turn out to be fine paintings and can function both as a finished painting as well as a thumbnail. Over the next few days, the postings will be a few steps in the process of one larger work, which is based on an earlier small painting posted to the daily blog.

At this point, the painting is in the initial wash-in, which establishes the overall composition of the piece.

Notes on 'Silhouettes'

The staff at The East Bay Monthly enjoyed this painting so much they decided to put it on the cover of their quality arts and culture magazine.