Looking back over my paintings from the first decade of the 21st century, these are the 10 things that stick out for me. Some of it was a rediscovery of neglected pleasures, some of it was trying new art materials, some of it was technical; all of it adds up to greater enjoyment and challenges.
1. Glazing Colors Rather than Mixing
Building up colors through thin, transparent layers of paint (or glazes) gives quite a different result to colors you’ve mixed together. The theory is that light goes through all the layers of paint, bounces back off the canvas to your eye, optically mixing the colors together. The result is more complex, richer, but requires patience, which has never been one of my strong points. But even working in acrylics, which dry fast, I found myself getting impatient for the paint to dry (and glazing only works if each layer is thoroughly dry). By setting up a hairdryer so I can speed up the drying time of the paint or working on more than one canvas at a time and swapping between them, I solved my impatience issue and was able to really get into the joys of glazing (such as the ‘whites’ in this horse painting).
2. Color Mixing Direct on the Canvas
I’ve tried various moisture-retaining palettes for acrylics, and while they do work (in terms of keeping the paint moist) I’ve never really enjoyed using one. I now ‘let’ myself mix colors directly on the canvas. Now I must just figure out what it is that makes me decide to mix colors by glazing with some subjects and physically mix colors for others.
3. Appreciation of Texture
During a botanical art workshop with the botanical and zoological artist Katie Lee in which I was using very thin gouache on watercolor paper to build up color by glazing, I found myself longing for some texture. For some straight-from-the-tube acrylic paint and a stiff hog-hair brush to leave marks in the paint. Besides the other things I learned in the workshop, it reinforced just how important texture in a painting is to me. (Not really surprising, I guess, since I enjoy Van Gogh and Expressionist paintings so much.)
4. Figure Studies
I've had a couple of opportunities opportunity to attend regular life drawing sessions and rediscovered the joys of it and the creative boost it gives me. I've enlarged my collection of figure studies that I could develop into paintings, and in the meantime enjoy for what they are.
5. Subtleness of Charcoal
Charcoal and I have had a love-hate relationship over the years as I tend to go in too dark too fast with it. But I've grown to thoroughly love it through doing a lot of reduction drawings, where you use an eraser as a drawing implement. Persistence and endurance have brought me results I’m very pleased about.
6. Try New Things
One figure drawing class I borrowed some pastels from my partner to try as an alternative to charcoal. The tonal pastel painting I produced reminded me that new (or neglected) mediums can produce unexpected results, of the need and pleasures of experimenting. In the last year I've come to really love pastels, the immediacy of the color and the way they handle.
7. Heavy-Duty Watercolor Paper & Pastel Card
The first time I tried a sheet of
600 gsm/300 lb Fabriano watercolor paper, which is in the “gulp” type of price range, I discovered that there’s far more to such serious watercolor than it simply not needing stretching because it was thicker. It’ll take a lot more abuse, and far more layers of glazes and pencil. I had fun holding the brush gentle to the surface, so that the paper sucked the paint out of the brush rather than applying the paint to the paper.
Working with pastels on Sennelier's pastel card was also an eye-opener. The card has a fine grain to it, grips the pastel fabulously, and you end up with a creamy, painterly result.
8. Pursuing an Idea
Instead of doing only one painting of a subject, or idea, I’ve been doing variations on the idea. Each painting builds on the last one; no two are absolutely identical.
9. Variation in Size
Always painting the same size canvas can become a rut. I've now painted large and small, square and landscape. Though I still think about arm’s length and landscape is my favorite.
10. The Fun Bits in Art History
To me, well-written art history is informative, entertaining, and irresistible. Books about the life and times of artists such as The Judgment of Paris about Manet and Meissonier (which reads more like a historical novel featuring a cast of familiar and unfamiliar artists), are inspiring reads full of art history trivia.
One bit of art history trivia that really made me laugh is in the biography of Goya (buy direct) by Robert Hughes. About how when Goya finally started enjoying some financial success he bought himself a two-wheeled birlocho, “the equivalent of today’s Ferrari or Lamborghini”, then had an accident and hurt his painting arm. Goya “exchanged the sporty carriage for a sedate landau, and the fiery horse for a pair of mules, explaining that since he was now on the public payroll it behooved him not to take risks with his life.” I can so see Goya’s wife lecturing him about how close he came to breaking it and destroying his livelihood.
