Painting Towards The Light

SWEET CHOICES #2: GETTING STARTED.

I still start a painting like I'm going to be painting with oils. I can't shake the habit of using washes of neutrals to lay in the shapes of dark, medium and light values. On canvas, I "draw" free-hand and do any correcting that needs doing as I go. Doing a precise cartoon of the subject in pencil first,then laying in the mid-tones of the colors, as suggested in nearly all of my painting with acrylics books, is just too foreign, way too precise and calls for planning. Designing, I was very precise. Everything was planned down to where the hooks for your robe would be. Painting unrestricted, always moving towards the light will just have to do.


SHOPPING A REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHY FOR THE FALL PANEL OF FOUR SEASONS QUADTYCH:

I don't know why I'm insistent upon finishing the quadtych I started last year; I hate the Fall season. It's the harbinger of winter,not a skier, not a favorite. Probably the ethic of finishing what I start has something to do with it? --My mom still haunts me.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25: MY VIEW OF OUR LAKE FROM THE SECOND FLOOR WINDOW

This photo came out a bit blurry, but it's usable; I like the grayed down green--sort of silvery--washed out color. --But there's still too many leaves on the trees...

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 02: MY VIEW OF OUR LAKE FROM THE THIRD FLOOR WINDOW

More lake is visible from this height. There's gold in the greenery to be pushed over the top. The trees have lost a lot of their foliage revealing their armature. I pushed the colors on this photo as I did with the other-- but painting is all about pushing color.

Neither of these photos is it. While The trees are on fire drenched in sunshine, the colors of the fall landscape really are intriguing when drenched with rain--deep and rich beneath a gray sky. I'll keep hunting.

HOW ABOUT MICHIGAN'S TEAMS! I am a pushover for winners. I become a real sports enthusiast when I think our teams have a chance to be champions. (Yes, I admit it, I'm only a fair weather fan). And this weekend was fair weather as Michigan State, University of Michigan, the Tigers and the Lions all won their battles in exciting contests. I was most worried about the Tigers--first, the rain out, second, playing their first game of the playoffs on scary Yankee turf and coming home with the second game to level the playing field. Loved it! Found myself actually watching these games and yelling at the screen. There's a side to me I didn't know about. If this goes on, I might actually get what football's all about? Awesome dude.