genesis of a painting

A couple of nights ago I got back to work and an idea popped into my head. Why not thrill and chill with a daily photo update of the painting I'm working on? Well, not daily exactly but "phase-ly", as I tend to construct my paintings in such a layered way that the finished product by no means resembles the first phase. This works especially well with mixed media pieces. With any luck this won't be one of the not-infrequently produced beauties that I end up yelling at to "piss off!" and drop kick into the incinerator.

The painting starts usually with the idea for a series as illustrated in a bunch of thumbnail sketches. I have to produce four paintings for an invitational exhibition in October that focuses on the series. Night before last I sketched out the compositional and element details for all four paintings and thought about what I want to communicate. They will all generally follow a model I'd already experimented with for a "mother earth" series, but didn't have the time to pursue while I was pumping out fish. Now I'm all fired up about it.

This here is phase one of a 20" x 16" acrylic/collage/stencilled painting. The base is painted thinly in acrylic colours mixed with iridescent white. I chose a mostly cool palette as this works best as the backdrop for the warm colours and greys I intend to be the dominant colours (though my best-laid plans often change direction when the emerging painting takes control and starts bossing me around).

Stay tuned for more breathtaking excitement to come!!