Laundry Done

I WENT BACK IN THE STUDIO WITH PANEL THREE:

I laid in magenta, crimson and cadmium red light. That was as far as I could go without disturbing adjacent wet surfaces. I'm painting this canvas differently than I did the other two: first a flat underpainting, then layers of glaze to add depth to the forms. With the other two, I painted mostly wet into wet and topped that off with the drybrush technique, my usual approach, but then this technique popped to mind and seemed more appropriate.

I like the way the painting looks flat. It's got a certain simplistic elegance...reminds me of the Matisse cut-out poster Scheherazade hanging in my office. I took my boys to see Henri Matisse cutouts four times at the DIA years ago; I loved The Swimming Pool, 1953-54, one of his last, if not his last works. Awesome. This flat approach would also suit leaded glass design...

STUDIO NOTES:

Saturday, I ordered panels 4, 5 and 6 to finish Ladder. Dick Blick told me I won't have the stretched canvases till the twenty ninth. Summer Shade will fill the wait. It's time to decide between keeping that painting light, airy and happy, or darkening it down closer to how the woods looked the day I shot the photograph.

I almost ordered some birch painting panels too. I've noticed a lot of blog artists paint on inexpensive, light weight supports--canvas over acid-free, pressboard and these birch panels. Both panels are 1/8th inch thick and are sold in bulk. I was curious about the birch panels-what the painted surface looks like--is there a grain in the wood that shows through--does it suit thin to thick paint applications--how would I, would anyone frame them? Being that thin,several pieces of backing would be needed to make up for the thickness of the glass that's not needed for paintings...
They sure would be good for sketching with acrylics for Drawing-of-the-Day though.

I'm putting together a book of my drawing/paintings using Blurb BookSmart. I thought The Art of L.W.Roth might be nice holiday gifts for my kids. The program isn't easy. I thought it would be a lot like Publisher, but yes and no. So far, I'm thinking it's a good thing the holidays are a few months off; I'm still referring back to the tutorial--but fascinated as hell. I love books; the idea of publishing your own is an ego trip.