Just because our family life was in total upheaval for most of last year, there was no excuse -- once landed in our new place -- to forego my annual cucurbit fixation. (Check here for my earlier post on this theme if you're unfamiliar with my seasonal compulsion and/or don't know what a cucurbit is).
We displayed September 2012's offerings for a few months until they began to age, and I decided I'd better get painting. For only the second time ever, I decided I'd paint on canvas -- a commercially mounted piece measuring 1 foot x 2 feet.
The set-up, then, would need to be a long horizontal -- and thus "Last Season's Line-Up" was conceived.
I realized I'd need to make a scaled study to fit things into this format, and doing that exercise contributed some additional working ideas. For the study, I used a small panel that had been used for a previous study and then haphazardly covered with yellow and an emerald green crisscross.
As soon as I got started, I liked the effect of the base colours staying visible in places and the crisscross as an anchor to the composition, and I deliberately left them somewhat intact as I finished the study.
Then I set myself the challenge of preserving these two elements in the painting itself. I started building the painting with obvious diagonal strokes -- unsure where this would lead me, but holding to the counsel of one of my mentors: "You must take great risks!" You can follow the progression here.
Here's the outcome, "Last Season's Line-Up", copyright 2013 -- another year of cucurbit pleasures!
No comments:
Post a Comment