Pomegranate Study

Pomegranate Study
11 x 14

I'm loving these studies. They're such a great opportunity to practice, experiment and take chances that I might not otherwise do for a commission or a painting destined for a gallery.

Studies in Oil

Pear and Bottle Study
11 x 14
Oil/Canvas

The little studies have been so much fun but then so are the bigger ones, this one is only 11 x 14 but I recently did a bigger one about 26 x 26. I'm finding that the bigger I go the bolder and freer I get. Big brushes and lots of paint, done in 2 hours or less. A great exercise initially given to me by Doug Swinton (www.dougswinton.com), an excellent artist in Calgary from whom I get occasional instruction. He's good for me because his work is the exact opposite of mine.

The recent studies have been very fun and liberating in that they've been quite experimental without my usual carefully planned set up of lighting, backgrounds and foregrounds. In fact some of them have been done from two separate photos. I know, I know, I usually say how important it is to paint from life as much as possible but sometimes I find that I get overly careful and maybe a bit afraid to take chances, after all this is my living and I want the paintings to turn out well, but there is something about putting two separate pictures into one painting, making up the background and shadows that is incredibly exciting and causes me to exaggerate colours, values and brushstrokes more than I normally would. Add to this recipe a time restraint and things get happening! I love it.