(July 2009. Oil on Canvas, 40 x 40cm)
The imaginatively named Archway 1 & 2 were my first attempts at painting on canvas, and let’s just say that I don’t think I’ll be painting on wood again anytime soon. Wood takes an incredible effort compared to canvas.
Archway 1
I stuck primarily to yellow ochre and burnt umber with white and black to tone it up and down so it is almost entirely up to lights and shadow, and the knife marks in the fat oil, to bring the painting to life. I mixed colors directly on the canvas and worked free hand with no sketches or pencil marks. What I learned from that was that the composition does gain from a bit of preparation, especially when working wet in wet.
Archway 2
