Q: "how long did it take you to paint that ?"
A: "comin' on Fifty years"
What's involved in creating a painting?
- lightbulb moment: "what if...?"
- research images of whales, their habitat, their plight, ...
- do some sketches of whales, deciding on what kind of whale to focus on
- do some sketches of seaweed and other sea creatures
- sketch out plan for composition
- think about what I have so far as I drive in my car, take a shower, do the dishes...
- rework my initial concept
- consider color palettes
- mix colors and note the mixing ratios in notebook
- rework colors and start again
- decided on size of panels and order them...make sure I can afford them...wait for them to arrive
- sketch out initial composition
- lay down base layers of color
- lay down tissue paper layer and cover that with 'acrylic ground for pastels'
- wait for it all to dry
- go over tissued areas with gouache where wanted
- paint over tissued areas with acrylic to define seaweed and sea life details
- order collaging materials from Australia...wait for them to arrive in the mail
- separate collaging materials by color
- cut and arrange the collage materials. Glue them down
- Sand the edges of the collage materials to clean up the edges that hang off the edges
- cut tissue paper into intricate seaweed shapes to try an idea...glue them down. Rework idea to make it work...involving painting with a glaze of white ink, drawing with ink and graphite...
- begin embroidering barnacles and detail on the whale's body...mostly done late into the night
- ....to be continued
In addition to working away on the Beasts series I am also working away at the Make Art That Sells bootcamp and preparing myself for the upcoming Global Talent Search. Sketches and refining sketches for the current MATS bootcamp assignment: