I only ever used to work on one painting at a time. But some of my 'treescapes' of dappled light in the woods have become even more complex and a bit...sore. Or perhaps less sore and more akin to working out a complicated puzzle which frazzles my brain even more than usual. Not in a bad way, but intense all the same.
So I decided to try working on more than one at a time, and on different scales (from 'small' to 'less small'!). Well, 'decided' is perhaps over glorifying it. Of the paintings above, I started the top one a couple of years ago, painting a thin underpainting on canvas at the same time as an underpainting on the painting on the left. The left one is on board and has had three layers applied now, with gaps of many months while I worked on other things (including writing my book!). Of the three paintings, it is nearest completion - it is coming along but needs a few more days. I started the one on the right a month ago, and have spent a few days on it and igonored the other two. It is on canvas and is about a third of the way through. The one at the back received the darker layer on Monday - it had been consciously ignored because I didn't 'like' it. Now that I've given it another bit of colour I like it better than previously, but I'm still not sure about it... It's early days and I won't quit.
Of all the subject matter that I paint, there is something about greens, trees and sparkles of light that really attracts me. I love painting people and skin, but the woods haunts me. It is much more challenging than painting people. I guess we all love a challenge.
Has working on several at once been an improvement? I'm not sure. Is it better to be undecided and unsatisfied with three at once? It does take the pressure off each one individually, and perhaps gives a feeling of a more rounded approach from my side of the palette. It perhaps also encourages more freedom and variety in the working process itself.
In other words, I think that the outcomes will be different and more developed than if I had completed one at a time. So I think that must be a good thing...
Can you tell that I'm slightly procrastinating? I think it's time I went back to my easel...
Rory under the kitchen lights, oil on linen. 20cm x 24cm
This little painting is almost finished. I've put these photos in reverse order so you can see the process from the finish, backwards. Originally I went straight to canvas on this, but realised that there was a lot of investigation of shapes and tonal relationships, so stopped and went back to the drawing board (literally!), and spent some time drawing. In truth, if I miss this step I am always sorry. While colour is the big attraction, it is much harder to get everything right when you don't prepare. The word 'drawing' doesn't refer to the medium - we can draw in anything, including paint. But if we take it to mean 'investigating', 'studying', 'problem solving' and 'gathering information', it is a much larger task to do all of these things on the canvas.
After the drawing I did a colour study, then returned to my canvas. I have painted many layers, and managed not to be precious by painting over the whole face four times, to see what would happen. Lots 'happened'! The lighting on the head was from more than one source - a central room light, as well as a downlighter directly above, which created the stripes of light on the forehead and the nose. In order for these to be bright, everything else needed to be dark. I finished with the hair, a special challenge which I enjoy, even though I pretend not to!