Painting Air!
"Above All Else"
An exciting an exhilarating challenge for me once... but twice?
I had to do it!
The first "Above All Else" was painted from a beautiful morning out my bedroom window. It felt like one of my favorite artists of the past,
Maxfield Parrish, was showing me his inspirations.
Okay, well it may not be a Maxfield Parrish piece, but his adaptations of warmly lit clouds clearly inspired me to no end on this one.
I have to say though, when I finished this 11"x 14" there was a little part of me that felt some disappointment. It's not that I wasn't happy with the final painting, it's just that
I wanted to hang it over the fireplace and revisit that feeling of
awe, taking in God's beauty...but it was too small for that space.
(Although I'm sure there's a perfect space somewhere for this size)
(Although I'm sure there's a perfect space somewhere for this size)
So, bigger I went!
The larger canvas that I chose is 24"x36". It's a 2" deep gallery wrap canvas that's edges are painted so the cloud scape wraps all around. It can be framed or left unframed, but let's get back to the painting part!... the good stuff!
Painting the air filled with water, reflecting the setting or rising sun, finding the enormous mountain ranges as a sliver of a serving plater for what the sky has to offer was for a second time a spiritual journey in painting.
But a different journey. For both paintings I chose to use primarily transparent colors. Occasionally a cadmium red was added to help neutralize a blue. The biggest difference in application was the first and smaller artwork was painted in an Alla Prima style. One stroke of color laid next to another, building the scenery one stroke at a time.
The second and larger piece was a process of many glazes. Painting a colored area and letting it dry a bit, then lightly painting over the same area with a warmer or cooler color. A little more time consuming process but each canvas seems to speak it's own life. I am happy to take part.
Hope you enjoy.
"Above All Else" 11x14 Framed
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