Something new with each painting

I love painting!

That's got to be a similar reason for all of us to paint, create, make, bake, sculpt  .....

A second reason must be that each time we tackle a new project we learn a little bit more, we develop our understanding of what we do. It might be a new technique, a new way of mixing colors, a new way to prepare the materials.  This latest painting of the lovely kids of friends has been one such exercise.

I don't know about other people but I have an equal measure of excitement of starting each new piece and fear that it won't look anything like the image in my mind. With this particular commission all that apprehension was compounded by the fact that I knew the subjects. I knew what they looked like and I knew their characters and as such it was important that I tried to paint the youngsters I knew.

I started by mixing a suitable tone in acrylic and putting down a base coat onto the canvas. once this was ready I sketched out the outline incorporating the main areas of light and shade. I wanted this to look like a painting. Not a photo realistic copy but a painting with blemishes, one that was nearly there but not quite. I was keen for this to convey a sense of pace with areas that had no detail but looked as if it did. I don't mean this to sound like creative mumbo jumbo but I suppose what I wanted was for the painting to reflect that of a couple of young kids. Bags of energy , not fully formed but with lots of potential to grow.

The painting itself was completed using only six oil colors. This is a snapshot of the process from start to finish.