I love experimenting different ways to apply paint to a canvas! With this non-objective painting I was applying some of the paint directly from the tube. This creates an interesting impasto look to the painting and not to mention it is so much fun.
First approach
I was working with oil paint and began the painting with a limited color palette. Using different variations of ultramarine blue, permanent green, titanium white and flesh tint I began to play with the composition of my colors. My painting started off vertical and as I kept painting I ended up switching it to horizontal. With non-objective paintings it sometimes can help to flip the orientation of the painting to see what else it has to offer.
After I switched the orientation the painting I was able to identify which areas needed work. It’s fun to experiment with colors by putting certain ones next to each other. Some colors make others appear darker than they really are. This creates a space illusion that becomes very interesting in a painting. I started painting with only the tubes of paint themselves. Which added another level of illusion that I really liked. Although, I still wasn’t happy with the results. So I went back and forth between using a brush to add some mixed lower intensity colors and the rich straight from the tube colors. Creating this illusion that pulls you into my painting soon became one of my goals.
Oil on canvas 16x 20
I left it go for a while until I finally felt like it was done. Sometimes it’s hard to know when to stop. I really enjoyed painting this and I feel like there was a lot that I learned from it. At this stage I just want to be learning from each these paintings and if I actually like the outcome then that’s a plus!
Sketchbook Drawing of the Week:
