Not Alla Prima

As much as I love alla prima painting, there is a richness and depth that can be had with working and reworking over a painting. This one is an example of that. I did a lot of glazing, scraping  and over painting.

It's not finished, I've been working on it off and on for a few months.

Getting Back To Painting

I am finally starting some larger paintings. For 2 years I have been so wrapped up with the book I was illustrating, along with teaching, that all I have had time and energy for is small plein aires. It is always hard to get back into it. I find all kinds of resistance. I start asking myself, is it really worth the time? Aren't there more worthy pusuits? Is this going to be worth the investment? It's a terrible and unproductive way to feel. I finally slug through and start with small steps. I go through sketches and photos and make more sketches. Finally, something starts to emerge. I would like to pick up this painting at that stage and share my process with you as I progress.

This is a photo I shot in LA back in 2013. I've worked with it a few times feeling like there is something there but, until now, never got the juice going.

                                     

After doing these sketches, I felt there were some possibilities. I then did a small 4 x 5 color sketch.

I liked what was happening but was still feeling a little iffy. I finally decided to do a section of it as a study, although a relatively large study that would stand on it's own.

So this is one of the 2 paintings I am working on. It is 22" x 28". This is the first pass. When doing a larger painting I usually do quite a bit of changing, scraping out, glazing, repainting all of which gives a lot of texture and depth. So over the next few weeks, I will show the progress and talk about process to the final painting.

Here it is in a little bit earlier stage.

I will be posting my progress in the coming weeks.
Happy New Year.

To Paint…or not…

This is an older apartment building that has intrigued me for years. It is nothing fancy, just a solid building from…the 40's? I've often thought about painting it but never quite got the final click in my head that there was something worth spending a few hours on. Last week I went into Phoenix to paint, after driving around for over an hour, I decided to give this place a shot. I think there are some possibilities here I want to further explore. 8x10 on canvas mounted to board.

Central Phoenix

A little (6x6) painting looking south on Central Ave in Phoenix.