Welcome back to my blog!
When starting a painting I feel we all have to think for a moment on size? how will this image look at its best A4? maybe even A1? However for me I always seem to paint in A4, because I feel they seem more humble? only when I see a painting struggling it may sound absurd but they seem to be trying to burst out of the small confined space. The project I have been creating this year I believed they needed that small space to live in otherwise the sensitivity and layering I create will be lost in the big area of A3 and above; for instance I created a stairwell pathway and now looking back I can see they don't seem as inviting as my A4 studies that I'm creating today, Both comparisons below;
Happy valley, Acrylic on canvas, 42.0 x 59.4cm
At the time this was a mini breakthrough in my work, where I found a new way of painting, which is where I started to use the grouting blades which I explained in detail in my earlier blog posts. I felt in these compositions they would begin strong in my sketchbook, however when transferring them onto a larger canvas it just did not work for some reason?
The palette was lacking and the application of the paint in the image above, because of the surface area was considerably larger than maybe I needed? However when you compare it to my smaller newer work my brush strokes are more confident and my palette aswell, even though above the composition is strong but because of the size I feel it did not live up to what I needed, it was a challenging painting and this is when I realised to size down! it was what I needed! challenging paintings help us artist to develop, to look back and think how can I make this better? usually it can be a change of palette, tools or even a new point of view (new composition) can help and then everything will fall into place inevitably.
We as artist are always developing to make our work that much better! mini breakthroughs is what we work towards to make our best work every time and better ourselves and our understanding. I always like to think of a painting as a mountain that I need to conquer every week one step at a time, and when I have the breakthrough painting is the feeling of looking down the mountain and thinking I did that I conquered that! now to the next challenge now to the next mountain, happy painting! Cerys
Winter landscape, Acrylic on board, 29.7 x 21 cm