These days I try not to post too many photos of the process or layers that make up my paintings. Especially because the harder a piece is to finish, the more photos I take. I take these photos so I can leave the room, so I can continue to work on a piece mentally if not physically. The painting above in the photos came together fairly easily. Each photo is of a stopping point where I stepped back to look and get a little breathing room. Where I let the piece rest, because with oils if you push too hard, too fast, everything can get all muddy...
I have certain friends that I talk to about my paintings while I'm working to get feedback or just to distract me so I can pull back from the piece and not mess it up... One of these people is there for every step pretty much and is a really good sport about me bothering her all times of day and night. She's my technical advisor, the reason I realized I did not have the temperament for egg tempera, and a general sounding board for ideas and art theory. Others get sent photos only at the end, because I appreciate their opinions and by sending it out selectively I force myself to contemplate whether or not the piece is really done. Many times the "finished painting" still gets a few more tweaks before I post it on Instagram or Facebook or here.
So building a painting has to start somewhere and for me it's finding that image or concept. I generally pick the image based on what medium, oil or watercolor, I feel like using. Because the mediums are so different in handling I usually have a feel for what I'm in the mood for. Watercolors are slow and methodical. Mistakes are hard to correct, it can be unforgiving. Oils are my favorite because because you can just keep painting until you get it right. As long as you remember to pay attention to the piece and know when to back away. And that's what I wanted to ponder truly today: building an oil painting.
Once we have the image picked, from conception to completion is truly three to five steps depending on how detailed we want to be. 1 - Size and surface. 2 - Sketching, 3 - Refinement. But that's breaking it down a little too far. So step by step, here's how I build a painting....we'll try breaking it into 5 general steps: size and surface, sketching, underpainting, resting, refinement.
1. Size and surface.
Seems like such a simple thing but priming itself is a labor of love. I prefer panels, 4 coats minimum of primer, sanding between layers.... I love the process. Occasionally, I will stretch a canvas and I put so much labor into making it perfect. But canvas is more absorbent, more time consuming and the piece has to ask for the texture. I'm snobby about the actual surface I put my paint on. I'll paint on paper, masonite, wood, canvas...but the preparation of the surface to me has a direct impact on how the paint is applied so every substrate is specifically chosen. So, boring right? Picking the right blank surface.....but it's the start and without the right one nothing happens.
2. Sketching.
Sketching is fun. Its spontaneous and flexible and you can wipe away mistakes and start over. I sketch in oil. I like the fluidity, the fact that my sketch gets incorporated rather than covered up...and sometimes I wish I could just stop there, but I never do.
3. Underpainting.
This step reminds me of drawing in a coloring book. The lines are already there, now I need to cover up that white surface I so carefully prepared. This is where I start moving things into better position and correcting where the sketch may have been a little off. But its still so flexible and if anything is frustrating about this step its that sometimes it seems to take forever to eradicate the white. Especially since it's still so messy and blurry.... And the underpainting blurs the line with painting with me toward the end. It starts out simple but I get impatient and want to move on, I want to push forward...but this is when you can push too far. Put on too much paint and you either get a big ole mess or you have to wipe it off and start over. Best to step back and follow a "less is more" philosophy at this point.
4. Resting.
So, so important for me. I need to walk away. I need to let the oils rest and do their thing and get all comfy and cozy. And the mind needs to rest too. I learned to appreciate the resting phase when I was in college. During a critique my professor asked what I had done since the last class session. My painting was quite clearly unchanged since the last session so I somewhat sheepishly responded that I had stared at it for a long time. The professor's response: "that counts." That exchange taught me the value of contemplation and letting a piece rest.
5. Refinement.
Refinement is the biggest part of painting for me in terms of time working on a piece. Its that back and forth and moving lines and straightening lines and tweaking color. And depending on the piece this can takes hours or days or months and sometimes upwards of a year. Most pieces come fairly easily and are completed in a few days and some give a big fight trying to get it just right.
Resting and refinement can be a repeating cycle. They are for me the only way I ever finish a piece. Paint, rest, repeat. Until it feels right.
I don't know if this is interesting to anyone, but that's how I paint. And in my mind a painting is a construct completed in layers. Sometimes the layers fit neatly together and it just drops into place. Sometimes the painting fights me and I go back and forth painting in the wrong spots or the wrong colors. Sometimes I have a hard time recognizing the end. Sometimes painting is pure joy and sometimes its a pain in the butt. Sometimes I feel like I have completely forgotten how to paint. So, 5 simple stages to build a painting....but every painting is different and the truth is you never know what the end result is going to be until you get there.
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