Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Losing my marbles

Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 14 x 20''
Created - February 20- March 24, 2009. #156.

This painting was somewhat challenging on a cerebral level. I spent three days on the drawing alone. With just pencil lines and no contrasting definition, I kept getting lost in the lines around the rim of the mason jar that it lying on it's side. I always use a grisaille technique with Payne's grey acrylic paint. Once the paint has dried and cured, I them apply the colors on top in transparent layers. My goal is always to try to pull it off with my signature bright colors.

In this case, for the exception of the marbles and the out of focus greenery on the bottom, it was pretty much a monochromatic type of imagery. In the end it did work out, as the main focus here was to showcase the marbles with this glass on glass study. The jars may appear to be floating, but they are actually on a glass pane shelf that is recessed in a deep window. I had not painted this large in a year, and working on a flat surface is always a challenge in itself. I've had this title on the back burner for a while, it seemed like a propos painting to use it on.

-SOLD