Last weekend I spent a lot of time painting, working at a leisurely pace, taking time to stand back, look, and tweak. It was comfortable, and it was fun painting with oils again after concentrating on acrylics and collage for so long. But I have to say, the resulting painting is a bit boring compared to other recent work.
Maybe it was just the return to oil paint, which behaves differently than the loose, watery acrylics I'd been using. Or maybe it was that I was working from a sketch and had a clear concept of the finished piece. In any case, my usual improvisational process was not happening.
So today in figure class, I challenged myself out of my comfort zone. Instead of spending three hours on one painting, I set the timer on my phone to chime after 30 minutes. Though the model maintained the same pose, I changed positions to get three different perspectives. Moving myself and supplies around took a bit of time, but I managed to do three paintings (well, two and a half, because I don't feel the last one was anywhere near completed).
Comparing today's work with the weekend painting (
click here to see it), the difference in style and expression is like night and day. Hmmmm.... Does this mean oil isn't my medium? Does it mean I shouldn't be a careful planner when it comes to painting? Or is there some middle ground where I can combine planning with some improvisational spontaneity? Guess I'll have to keep painting to find out!
Here's my classroom work-in-progress.
