Single, red, femaleAcrylic on canvas,8 x 10
copyright Jeanette Jobson
I spent about an hour this morning finishing this painting that was the demonstration for a class. Overall I rather like it now, but as always I can see things in it that I could change. I won't tinker anymore otherwise I'll just turn it into a muddy mess.
I played around with some more small studies today as I've run out of decent size canvases and need to stock up again. I have a handful of small canvas panels that I can use but some are just too small - around 3 x 5 - but they're good for practice. I haven't used acrylics for quite a while. They are convenient in terms of clean up and I really don't think many people could ever tell the difference between acrylic and oil paint in the final picture. However, there are devotees of both acrylics and oils and everything in between.
Personally, I prefer oils. I love the smell of the paints and turps and oils. It must be something to do with my love of history and the feeling that I am continuing a tradition when using oil paints. Yes, there are more challenges working with oils and waiting for them to dry between layers. I enjoy the ability to mix the paint more easily on the canvas with oils. I can do this with acrylics, but they are fast drying and can cause problems, especially in the warmer months.
There must be something about summer that makes me want more colour in my artwork, while in winter I seem to stick with graphite much more. Dry media will always be my comfort zone even if I slide over into painting now and then. I think it is the same for many artists who try their hand at a variety of mediums depending on mood, season and level of comfort.
Do the seasons affect how you crave colour or influence what you draw or paint?
5 comments:
The seasons do seem to affect my choices of subject. I find that during the spring and summer I am more ambitious to take on larger projects, and typically more of them. I sometimes think it is because of the longer days...
even more luminous now and really lovely
I agree about oils, they feel so nice to use and there is just something intangibly more special about them
Beautiful finish on this, Jeanette. It actually has a beautiful oil quality, whereas I find acrylics never give me that.
Longer days make us want to be more productive I think too e.floyd
Thanks Vivien. I'll pull out some oils again soon and see what I come up with.
I've been away from steady painting for awhile Robyn, so its taking me some time to get back into my stride with it. Acrylics can be manipulated in similar ways to oils and I'm trying to see if I can duplicate the look of traditional 'painterly' work with them.
I'm trying to discipline myself to stick to watercolours for a while, but can feel the oil paints calling - it's just too cold in my studio to go out there now. I love this warm, rich red tomato you've done!
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