Inspiration and Stages

 Hello! I am launching a new blog titled: 

Wet Paint Musings. 

As you can see, this is a blog to ponder and enjoy the process of art making. So to start, the painting on the right is new and is almost finished. With a little more tweaking on the wheat and other area's a new image will be born. Each work is a process of inspiration, thought, planning and completing the vision, one step at a time, as the image unfolds.

I love this subject. There is something so basic in the growing of food, especially wheat, as it is the makings of bread, the staff of life. There is symbolism through out history surrounding the satisfaction found in bread. I think of Jesus' famous quote of Isaiah, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God."  

The images that inspire me most are ones with a sense of timelessness. So when I look for models, clothes, and locations; I seek out classics.  As far as light, I love warm afternoon light.

When I began this work, I was looking for something simple to paint for the upcoming Best and Brightest Juried Show at Scottsdale Artist  School. I wanted it to be as loose and expressive as I possibly can.  I tend to paint with more detail than I would like.

I started with an initial oil sketch painted on Claussens #15 linen.

 
As it progressed I was really liking the light and overall feel, but wasn't happy with the feeling of the face.

So I decided to wipe it off and start over. The new oil sketch looks like a mess... did I make a big mistake by wiping it off and starting over?

I am so happy that I started over. This is more of the expression that I wanted in the face. I painted the face, hair and background as quickly as possible, wet into wet, so as to be able to work the edges of the background and the figure, using both hard and soft edges to create the illusion of form. I also painted the blouse, continuing to capture the feeling of the afternoon light; and started laying in foundation colors for the wrap around her waist.

The next time I worked on it, I layed in some fore ground so I could work the edges of the wrap. I put in more foundational colors in the wrap and then painted the design wet into wet. But it worked out and paid off with a nice looseness and the opportunity to work the design into the "cloth", rather than a glaze on top of dry paint . The design was really fun to paint.

I decided to enter "Quiet Warmth" and "Scent of a Rose" instead in the Best and Brightest and they will show in Scottsdale January- March. This little piece I will finish for another show.