How does a studio painting practice evolve?
Over time interests move on and process changes……
My last blog post was all about deciding whether or not to make art making into a business and I am very excited to share that I am going for it. Of course at the heart of any art business is actually making the artwork. So this time I’m going to share a bit about my current work and how my creative practice is evolving.
During January I have continued with my theme of looking closer but my focus has moved on to hyacinths. One of my dear friends gave me some blue hyacinths for Christmas and the heady scent and intense blue flowers were a treat over the holidays. So I started drawing them and then have spent January painting them.
My line of enquiry was about scale, colour, and the balance of loose vs accuracy in the piece.
Scale
I made four paintings at sizes from 12x12in up to 24x24in.
I have been working at mostly 12x12in for the last six months so going bigger was the first challenge. I was exploring the scale within each piece as a composition question as well. How zoomed in or out should the viewpoint be?
I love zooming in but I discovered that I can get too close and then the composition does not work as well for me.
Colour
These hyacinth paintings are mostly about blue/ violet and it’s complementary colours. That’s a big change from my usual red or pink and green preference. It was exciting to play with different pigments for a change. It’s amazing how many shades and hues can be achieved from a few pigments. Also I noticed that hyacinths start of very blue and as they open they become lighter and more violet and even mauve looking. That’s one of the things I love about painting - it makes you look at things and see things that otherwise you might miss.
Balance of Loose vs Precisely Accurate
I’m used to painting my tree landscapes quite quickly and expressively. I really enjoy that way of working. I find that flowers work better with a more close and accurately observed method of painting. Especially when I scale up. However, my favourite of my four paintings, which happened to be the smallest one, is a mixture of an expressive painting with part of the work painted more accurately. This helps draw the eye to the focal point of the piece.
My challenge now is to explore further and see if I can bring the essence of my successful small piece into some larger paintings.
Gentle Prompts for February
Have you tried scaling up your own work? What happened?
What are your favourite paint colours?
Are you an expressive or a controlled painter?
I’d love to hear from you.