River Reflections

Some days you know that if you don't pick up a brush and smoosh some oils around you're going to go crazy. This was me two weeks ago. The new canvas I had in stock was too big - over the maximum size for a show - and much as I love visiting the Art shop I really wanted to paint and couldn't bear to spend time in the car going to buy another. Pity there isn't an app for immediate canvas delivery like one does with pizza! 

I hunted in my painting storage room and found a canvas that I had painted as part of a colour workshop aeons ago. It was the right format and size and I loved the colours. A little recycling was the plan. After dusting off the surface I gave the canvas a rubbing down with painting medium to make the surface receptive to the new paint. 

No drawing, just paint directly on to the canvas. After painting for a short while I decided to set up my iPhone so I could use Hyperlapse to record the process. In between I photographed the painting. Looking at the work on my screens helps to see if the painting is going in the right direction. Here is the video of the process. When I returned to the work after a break, I completely forgot to set up the camera so the last part hasn't been filmed.



It was good to get back to working in oils and with colour too. I love my job. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen some snippets of this work in progress. I've also added some crops which show, (sort of) the whole painting if you go over to my page. I rather enjoy seeing small crops of a painting - the abstractness of the detail is appealing. 

River Reflections - oil on canvas 600mm x 760mm