Skating party

What happens when you have a skate, some ink and some mulberry paper?

You have a skating party!

Sorry for the lines crossing this image.  Its the grouting on the floor tiles and the mulberry paper is quite thin.  Most papers that I use are tissue like and translucent which make them very suitable for gyotaku as they mold around the body of the fish much more easily.

With these initial prints, I'm working out composition to find the best placement for the different fish shapes. These are like printer's proofs in a way, as they give me room to adjust ink amounts and paper used to help obtain a better print.  First time is rarely a keeper with gyotaku, so the benefits of a 70 foot roll of mulberry or rice paper are much appreciated.  I also use newsprint or old newspapers to take initial prints to see how they'll turn out.

Earlier this year, I found some Mermaid or Devil's purses on the beach and sketched them.  These egg cases belong to this creature or a similar version of it. I'm not sure of the exact species of this skate and there are so many types.  I know that smooth, thorny and barndoor skate are all caught off Newfoundland.

Urban rivers

 River - Austin Street East

 pastel   10 x 13

I've made a start on a small series, that may turn into a larger series, of urban rivers. This is the first piece and I've done about half of the second, looking west. 

Each day when I go to work I pass by rivers, most of which I pay no attention to as they've become part of the landscape and almost swallowed up by the sprawl of concrete and buildings that surround them.  But they persist and run through, under and around the city, making their way to the ocean.

I decided to track some of these rivers on their journey.  This view of the river is on Austin Street, looking east.  The river isn't deep and the undergrowth is threatening to take over at this time of year.  Even though this isn't the origin of the river, it was a starting point, simply because I work in the area and pass by it every day.   They'll all be sequenced at a later date to track the water's progress to the sea.

On Google Maps, Street View, you can see the point at which the river flows under the road and on further into the city.

View Larger Map

An idea germinating

I've had an idea floating around in my head for ages and just the other week managed to get some concrete research done on it.

Until I get some basics down on paper, I can't really say more except that it involves water and the city and me in some 'interesting' places.

Here's a hint.

Big and little fish

I haven't abandoned you all, just been very very busy with work and people and networking and fish.  And little time left over for art creation.  This is one of the few times that I haven't produced anything for days and I feel the need to do so desperately.  But it may have to wait another day or two until life slows down a little more.

This print at the top of this page is from a winter flounder that was given to me a week or two ago.  The skin texture on this fish is amazing and as rough as sandpaper.  Flounder or flatfish always interest me, one, because they're easier to print and two, because they're just such odd creatures with eyes and mouth slewed to one side. 

When I print fish, I do a few test pieces first on inexpensive paper to see how they turn out and what needs adjustment before moving on.  Then I print on my intended paper and add colour to see how it behaves on that paper.  I make several prints on this paper to allow a margin for error as it may take 3 or 4 prints and enhancements before I get a piece that I approve of.

My networking did pay off and I was given a lovely cooler of frozen fish today that I will look forward to starting to print this weekend.  There are a variety of flounder in it as well as capelin, herring, arctic char, whole crab, sea cucumber and a gigantic Atlantic salmon.  I never thought I could get excited about fish, but its happened.  I've had to commandeer a little freezer in the barn to accommodate the fish and others that will be added to them as and when they arrive through the food fishery that starts on the 24th.

A lot of work was tempered with a little play this week and I went out on a whale tour boat.  Capelin are swarming the bays now and with them, come the humpback whales. The day was fine and warm, but the wind made the water a bit choppy heading out to Gull Island.  The whales were there feeding, were friendly and were very close.  Here's one that floated on his back next to the boat, waving his long flukes in the air and slapping them on the water from time to time.  He was beautiful.  And provided more inspiration for a painting. 

I guess a whale is too big to print, but a bit of that fluke might fit... Then he turned over and dived down under the boat, leaving a whale footprint behind. The footprint is a flat surface of water left by the force of the water made by the whale's tale when diving.  You can follow the path of the whale by its 'footprint'.  Such amazing creatures.

Banana kiss finished

I've finally found a little time to complete this watercolour.  Am I happy with it?  Not 100%.  There are passages that I like and there are passages that I consider overworked, but I'm not able to invest any more time in it right now and have to move on.  I do like the challenge of working with folded and wrapped paper items.  It satisfies the detail freak in me. :)

I have long had a dislike of the up close views of images on a computer screen and feel that all pieces benefit from being displayed from an appropriate distance as they would be in reality.  The option of inspecting a piece more closely is here as well as a more traditional view.

This is watercolour done on 200lb Arches paper and measures about 22" x 15".

Salt cod

Herring study 1

As and when I get fish, I'm printing them.  One of the challenges of this project is actually getting my hands on whole fish here.  Its a lot more difficult that I imagined it would be.   There is lots of fish in stores but its usually filleted with occasional whole fish found.  So I'm venturing further afield into the commercial fishery world and hope that I'll have more luck there even if it means some lengthy trips to get them.

The recreational food fishery begins on July 24 which means for a few weeks people can fish for ground fish but are limited in numbers caught daily and all ground fish are counted as part of the catch.  In 1992, the federal government put a moratorium on the northern cod industry in the province, throwing 30,000 fishermen out of work and making it impossible for people to catch a fish for food.

Today, a local lobster fisherman brought a classic Newfoundland staple - salt cod.  These are cod that were caught in the previous season, salted and dried and are a cultural icon of the province.  Salting and drying cod was the only method of preserving it many years ago and today the tradition remains in some smaller communities.  Its also a throwback to the Portugese connection too, where bacalao is a staple food.  The Portugese have had a strong fishing relationship with Newfoundland for hundreds of years.

I will keep a couple for eating and the other, now soaking in water to rehydrate, will turn into a print.

The birth of an art piece

I have ideas for a new piece going around in my head and I like to work out those ideas as studies and little thumbnails, as what's in my head and what comes out on paper usually needs a lot of adjustment.

It usually starts with sketches like the first shown and little notes doodled on any paper that is handy.  It then translates to tracing paper, then to the final form that it will take, whether enlarged, reduced, watercolour, oil, etc.

I rather like a little online drawing tool called Harmony.  Its so handy to quickly sketch out ideas using a mouse which is what I've done here.  I did this in colour then resaved it as a jpeg file then emailed it to myself, as I'd done this at lunchtime.  However, the file mysteriously changed colour and went very  black.  I'm not sure why.  So I redid it and have something similar here.

 I do have a graphic tablet and pen, but just can't be bothered to haul it out so used the mouse to draw this.  The pen would give me a lot more control but the mouse isn't bad for roughing things in.

It can and will change a lot between the initial concept and the final piece.  Some people don't like to work out composition or values or colour and just jump right into a piece.  I guess I'm methodical in some ways by wanting and needing to know my path and what I will take with me on the way.  I like making my mistakes early and learning from them.  Preferably not on an expensive sheet of paper!

I can do anything?

I completed a commissioned portrait which is now shipped off to its new owner.

This was done in coloured pencil on a softer Rives paper.  The image was from a photo of perhaps 1960s in black and white which I coloured based on a childhood photo that was supplied.  I wanted a grainier final image that would give a bit of sense of age to the piece and I think that worked.

There is always a heart in mouth moment while waiting for a client to approve a piece.  We always fear the worst, don't we?  I believe all artists have a degree of self doubt that clings and makes us wonder about our abilities to produce.  Is it a form of self protection, to brace ourselves for the worst possible outcome - that someone actually would voice our innermost fears?  Or is it engrained humility coming from years of parents and society telling you that you should not show your abilities to the world and be boastful?

These days parents go to other extremes and constantly tell children they can do anything, be anything, conquer the world.  That is fine to a degree, but in this little video clip, I wonder how much pumping up this child has on a daily basis and how hard the fall will be when she realizes at some point, likely outside the family unit, that she actually can't do everything she wants to do.  Reality and research shows that too much positive reinforcement for every little thing a child does or produces in life is as damaging as negativity in response to their activities.

I am the first to say that a person can achieve what they want, provided they are willing to put in the effort - the 10,000 hours.  I deal a lot with youth in my job and have found that they are frequently bound up in the 'I can do anything' mode but are not willing or able to put in the work to achieve it.  It is, in fact, the parents who often deal with the ins and outs that the youth should be.  Confused? I know I am.  The message that is sent is 'you can do anything you like, but I'll take care of the parts you don't enjoy'. 

Banana kiss update

I've added some more layers to this painting and am at risk of turning it to mud.  The freshness that I started with seems to disappear and my hand chooses the wrong colour or the wrong value of colour and so on and so on.

I had this same issue when adding a watercolour tint to a fish print that I did this weekend. Its a bit like that nursery rhyme: "when she was good, she was very very good and when she was bad, she was horrid".   Painting and drawing seem to follow the same way.  Some days it flows effortlessly, some days its not worth going into the studio as things do not turn to gold but to sawdust.

I will leave this piece for a few days then go back and see what I can salvage.  I keep trying to analyse why I can't produce what I want to produce sometimes, but I know that its simply how it is and I must learn to go with the flow.  The muse will return and finish the image for me.

Little things

Often the smallest things provide the most challenge and the most pleasure. I had been printing some capelin and used one to print onto some rough, hand made paper.  The image here of the print is the pertty much actual size.  Some people surprised to see that capelin are quite small, delicate looking fish, so my past painting at 12 x 36 was a stretch.

I was using some of the Caligo inks that I received today and both reviving some old lino cut plates as well as adding more printed leaves to my collection.  This is Indian paper and measures 3 x 4 inches.  I've been using it to print a little series of leaves from the garden, mostly herb, but some trees as well. 

Today it was marshmallow.  Yes, this is the original marshmallow, a far distant cousin from that sweet, white, spongy confection found in stores.  Marshmallow roots as well as leaves are used to sooth sore throats, as well being quite good for inflammation and used commonly in handmade skin care creams.  I love the leaves, not so much for their form, but texture.  They feel like velvet.  The little white flowers are fairly innocuous but the plant is a keeper in my garden.

These, or something similar, may well make their way into my Etsy store as affordable, original prints.

The morning after the night before

This is the result of staying out all night, picking fights with black cats and a very hot day.  Boy, Tripod sure was a cranky boy today.  At least in the moments he wasn't comotose...

See?  I could even get photos of him without him waking up and glaring at me or stomping off in disgust.

 While he slept, the ducks explored a bucket of water.  BD, the Muscovy, doesn't like sunshine directly on him and he doesn't like water.   So he puts his beak in the water then flaps his wings furiously as if he was totally submerged in the water, going through preening motions.  He's always been this way and at 9.5 years, he's not going to change.  Lucky, the Pekin, simply watches BD and waits his turn then virtually dives into the bucket, splashing water everywhere.

More explorations

This is a glimpse into a piece I'm exploring using gyotaku.  This brook trout is my guinea pig for a variety of compositions, techniques and washi papers.  I will also be using some prints to test wet mounting.  This is the method of backing the painting with another similar sheet of paper to strengthen it in preparation for framing.  It also eliminates any wrinkles that occur during the printing and colouring process.  I will be using wheat paste as the 'glue' and am hoping that this won't disturb the print or watercolour on the painting.  If it does, I guess dry mounting will be the other option, though more expensive.

I'm experimenting with a variety of Japanese papers until I find the ones that best suit my need and the needs of gyotaku.  These papers are so different from the usual art papers.  They're light, with tissue-like qualities in some, denser in others.  Some are machine produced and some hand made. Some have sizing, some not.  They range from $1.25 a sheet to $15 a sheet.  (I haven't dared print the $15 sheet yet).  The most expensive sheet of paper I've seen is $190 for a 32" x 72" sheet.  It is gold Fusuma and  I don't think that's in my budget and even if it were, I'd be holding my breath the whole time I was using it, waiting for something to go wrong.

As I experiment, I find out more and more about the potential of gyotaku simply by the printing and enhancing process.  There are endless options available to me in terms of enhancement. and the print technique is like unveiling a new gift each time I peel it off the fish.

The prints stand alone without any additions except painting an eye. The paper can act as the showcase using the colour as part of the piece or natural paper can be used which allows for additional enhancement of colour, backgrounds, shadowing, etc.   Enhancing with watercolour on paper that is very lightweight is fraught with problems.  Water spreads out uncontrollably but I'm now able to get more control by knowing what mediums hold in the water, just how much pressure to use on the paper and where exactly it will spread.

I thought coloured pencils may be useful, but find a sharpened point is death to lightweight paper.  It pierces it easily or pills the surface if I rub a blunter pencil over it.  I think watercolour will be my medium of choice, and great care taken with it.  Pastel can work if very lightly applied as I want to print to show through clearly and have the colour tint it.

I am in the process of creating the content for a gyotaku workshop which will be held in March 2011 in St. John's.  More details on that once content and venue are finalized.  All I can tell you is that it will be a one day workshop that will enable participants to go home with a number of beautiful fish prints and a lot of knowledge.

Brook trout

Brook trout

9 x 12  graphite

A friend provided me with some local brook trout which I gratefully accepted.  Two were scheduled for the freezer for a later date and one to work with now.  This is a life (or should that be death) sketch of the fish.  

The coloration in this fish is quite appealing and an intimate view of fish reveals a lot of detail that we miss in most other dealings we have with them.  They are quite exquisite in form and engineering.  The colours and patterning is complex and perfectly designed for their environment.

I'm sure this sounds odd to many.  Its just a fish they say.  When was the last time you really looked at a fish?  Try it.  You'll be amazed.

Banana kiss update

I've been working on several pieces at once, as I usually do, as well as putting together a new artist statement.  There are so many things going on in my head, if one could see inside it would consist of many rooms all filled with activity and new projects being plunked down on the table in each room sometimes before the first has even gotten underway.

And for me, that's pretty much the norm.  I sometimes wonder if other creative people's mind work similarly, then another thought comes in and moves the first away for later.

Last night and early this morning I started adding some colour to the drawing that I did on Sunday.  Its fairly basic values right now but will start getting some form soon.  This is the banana flavour of this brand of candy, not a flavour I like and the colour of the candy inside the wrapper is about the same colour as the wrapper itself.  An unwrapped candy is yet another piece in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, I'm still printing fish as and when I get them.  Later this month the food fishery starts so I will be able to access some whole cod.  Yes, on this island, we receive permission from the government for a week or two a year to go catch a fish that has been one of the world's staples for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.  No, I won't get into that debate now.  Its long and heated.

I also have a side series of fish images in oils on fairly large canvasses.  One down, two or three to go.  I will be setting a date and venue for the workshop I have planned for gyotaku in the spring.  Yes it seems a long way off, but time flies by and I want to have the basics in place so its one less thing to think about.

Drawing

 
We're all guilty of it at one time or another.  We push ahead, wanting to move into what we believe is the better place.  A place more interesting or one that will enable us to do what we enjoy more or to fulfil more quickly the vision that is in our heads.

For those that know me, they'll know that I mean the drawing.  For me, the underdrawing of a painting, especially watercolour or a portrait is a crucial element.  It is the backbone of the piece and without it, the chances of achieving that vision in my head usually fail.

Of course there are loose impressionistic pieces that can become something wonderful with the right brushstrokes and colour values under experienced hands.  But I need that groundwork to guide me, especially in complex pieces such as this one.

I spent most of this afternoon creating the drawing for a new painting.  Its another Purity Kisses piece, that chewy candy that is produced here.  I think part of the appeal for me is the drawing.  I love the complexity of the folds and lettering and how it bends and distorts as the paper folds over itself.

This is on 200lb watercolour paper and measures 15 x 22.

Freshly tilled

Sunshine, a little heat, reality and some imagination came together to create this pastel.  The view was of a strip of freshly tilled soil on the side of the meadow that will grow vegetables.

I was originally planning an oil sketch of the meadow, but the black flies came out in numbers and drove me to the relatively bug-free zone of the gazebo with the screens in place.   I still had a few of the meadow, just not the one I planned.  I added some things, took away some things and tinkered with colours.  Where the red came from I don't know,  but i like it.

Its 9 x 12  on colourfix paper.

Black and white to colour

When working with portraits there are all kinds of challenges thrown at you and you learn over time to work with them.

This current commission is being completed from a black and white image that was requested to done in colour.  Another image was provided that showed the colouring of the individual as a child.  So I'm slowly working up the colour on this piece based on my knowledge of redheads and their pale skin and from researching online as well as real life people with the same colouring of around the same age.  Luckily in Newfoundland there is a strong Irish influence in genetics so naturally red hair is fairly common, giving me more models to observe.

According to Wikipedia:
Red hair ranges from vivid strawberry shades to deep auburn and burgundy. It is caused by a variation in the Mc1r gene and believed to be recessive. Red hair has the highest amounts of pheomelanin and usually low levels of eumelanin, and is the least common hair color in the world.

Also hair usually darkens as we age from childhood, so the redness will develop into a darker shade of its original childhood colour.

This portrait is being completed with coloured pencil.

The rodent wall

You know how your mother always told you not to draw on the wall?  Well, I've thrown out that premise and started a little group of creatures - my studio buddies - who keep me company while I draw and paint.

The mice were the first and have been there for awhile but tonight a new rodent joined them.  A young squirrel who is just poking his head out to see what's going on.  The details are a bit sketchy (pardon the pun) right now, but he will become more detailed soon and be joined by others as word gets out I'm sure.

What's on your studio wall?

The creel

I take a lot of photographs.  Sometimes they just happen with a composition at the moment almost landing in my lap.  Other times I go in search of inspiration and often the barn helps things along.

Aside from animals and birds that come and go in the barn, there are an assortment of the usual tools, farm equipment, dust and cobwebs.  Looking up towards the door that once led to an old original chicken coop, I saw this creel and rod with years of dust and cobwebs accumulated.  No one has done any freshwater fishing for quite awhile, though I may well get these out into the light of day again and see if I can add a trout or two to my arsenal for my gyotaku project.

The creel and rod seemed perfect for a black and white photo and lent an air of nostalgia to the image.  Its now available in my Etsy store.

Pineapple

I played around this weekend with the image of a pineapple.  I wanted it to feel tropical and loose, but have enough detail to be recognizable too.  Pineapple is about the only thing tropical in this summer so far.  We get a decent day, then the north wind whips around again and brrrr.  So a foray into something more summer like was warranted. The texture of pineapple is fascinating with each segment looking rather like a little wrapped parcel.

This is done on a half sheet of 200lb paper.  Its at the cusp of being overworked as sometimes its easy to overstep the mark without even realizing it.  I hope I stopped before I got in too deep on this one.

Tangle of Capelin - Part II

I created, or started creating, a painting of capelin using a batik technique on masa paper - A Tangle of Capelin. This was done as a demo of the batik process and gives the basics to achieve the fractured surface of the masa and proves to be one of the most commonly visited page on my blog - along with gummy bears and laptop sleeves! This piece had been sitting on my drawing table waiting to be completed, so today was as good a day as any to do so.

I also wanted to try out some iridescent colours that I had ordered that I hoped would give a subtle sheen to fish skin.  These are Daniel Smith watercolours and they work beautifully over a darker surface, giving a slight reflective quality dependent on the viewers angle and work well for these fish. You can see the effect of a wash of iridescent gold over the gill plate of this fish.

I have intensified the colours in the piece with more layers of turquoise and phalo blue with touches of quinacridone red to and burnt orange (my new favourite) to balance and complement the overall blues.  This piece of masa is mounted on an 11x 15 sheet of 140lb watercolour paper.  The washes buckle it a little, but some pressing under weights should take care of that.  I should have stretched the paper prior to painting but it was a demo at the time and I didn't think it would go further.  Isn't that always the way??

So a little more definition of the fins for a couple of these fish then it complete.  I have a couple of commissions to work on this week, interspersed with more fish.

The view from here

 Three's a crowd

oil on mulberry paper

I realized that I am in my fifth year of blogging.  Five years of writing thoughts, posting images of success and failure in art.  Sharing snippets of life with a group of people who I know and don't know.

I wonder at times if I'll run out of words or ideas for posts or images to show the world.  Silences from me are usually short lived while I work on other things or life refuses to provide me with enough time to share thoughts in any cohesive form. But they still seem to come, at least for now.


I'm still waiting for supplied to turn up to do more work on my gyotaku project.  I do have the basics here, but am waiting for an order of Caligo inks to arrive.  These are oil based but clean up with soap and water.  I have a variety of inks on order to be able to see what works best for me. 

I do have a number of Japanese printing papers here now and some of them are exquisite. And some of them are quite expensive.  None are cheap, but they do print beautifully. 

Today I experimented a little with some leaf printing using oils.  They have a tackier feel to them and work well in printing.  I have to say that I prefer them over the water based inks I've used and they also give a crisper gyotaku image from what I've tried so far with them.  It will be interesting to see how the Caligo inks perform.

Today was a welcome warm day, warm enough to seek shelter from the sun in the gazebo.  Poor gazebo hasn't seen much use this year as the weather's been abysmal this season, but hopefully will change soon.  The gazebo is built on the edge of the woods between what was the enclosed garden for the dog and the meadow.  I can get wireless signal from the house and work or draw there which is an advantage.

The views on all sides are green and lush with coppiced willows sprouting madly and larch trees with that lovely bright green growth of a new season.

If I walk through the gate and past a small greenhouse that I use for tender herbs, I am in the meadow and my wild herb garden.  Wild only because a change in location for herbs meant they were all dumped in this particular area and now run rampant.  That's not always a bad thing and its not as if they are going to interfere with anything else, so I let them be.  Right now the sweet cicely is flowering and seed heads forming.  Its one of my favourites with its lovely aniseed scent and taste.

The strip of tilled soil is waiting for new occupants and if bugs abate, will be filled soon.

If I turn around to face right from this view, the meadow is in front of me and another vegetable bed.  This was one of the meadows that the horses romped in when I had them.  Now its more manicured and today it looked as if I should be setting it up for a game of croquet or other game that requires lots of space.

Finally back down through the gate towards the gazebo again.  See how easily I get distracted and wander off?

Mallotus villosus

 Mallotus villosus

12 x 36 - oils

Mallotus villosus.  I've used the latin genus as the name for this painting.  He (as he's fairly thin and small, I'm presuming its a male) is a showy fellow and deserved a more regal name I thought, especially as he sacrificed his life in the name of art. 

I finally managed to get some odorless thinners for the oils I'm using and do some more work on the giant capelin.  Usually turps don't bother me, but they have lately and with the weather cold and damp, having good ventilation wasn't an option while painting.

It seems the older I get, the more things turn against me in terms of scents and foods.  But hopefully, this problem is taken care of for now.  I don't mind the smell of oil paints themselves, in fact I notice very little smell from them.

So on to the fish painting.  I've layered more colours to try to achieve that luminescence that fish have in places as light catches scale or wetness. The subtlety of colour in something as simple as a capelin is quite amazing, as is the detail.  I like the progress so far and still have some work to do on the mouth and the fin, then I'm hoping I can call it done and let it dry.

Final pelican update

I'm calling this pelican finished even if there are a couple of tweaks left to do.  I think there will always be a couple of tweaks left to do on some pieces.  The final brush stroke is always difficult to predict at times and often what I mentally call the last stroke is the stroke that overworks a section and sends me into despair about my ability as an artist.

The tweaks on this piece won't be enough to push it over the edge, so it remains safe.  I rather like having this fellow gazing at me accusingly in the studio.  However, if someone would like to give him a good home, he will be available for sale in my Etsy store soon, so keep an eye out for him.  I know he'd love to come and stay with you too.

Working larger

As a change from some of the tight work and printing that I've been doing lately, I felt the need to start something large in oils.  This is what's currently on my easel.  Its 12" x 36" and of a capelin.  Yes, yet another fish...

The scale of paintings in the 21st century are much smaller than those in the 17th or 18th centuries which often were 6 or 7 feet long and perhaps 3 or 4 feet wide.  The size of houses and available wall space make it more difficult to hang very large pieces and pricing would be prohibitive for the artist and the buyer.

There are good and bad aspects of working larger.  Its very freeing in many ways and allows me to slap on paint that I would normally used in a more controlled way.  The sheer act of using larger brushes prevents me from focusing on detail. Standing back from the piece is crucial to make it become believeable.  When you're on top of something large that you're working on, you don't see easily what isn't working, so moving back 8 or 10 feet at frequent intervals helps me make sure that what I'm painting isn't skewed.

When working on a larger scale, the painting becomes very abstract, as it is just values and colours and I sometimes forget just what I am painting, hence the importance of stepping back often from it.  In this case, instead of filling a larger canvas with images and background, I choose to simply make the focus a single object on a larger scale.

Scaling up an initial drawing can be done several ways.  I choose to use a projector to enlarge to this scale, simply to save time.  And before someone wades in on the 'is a projector cheating' argument; no, it isn't.  I see it as a tool to help save me time, not draw for me.

Of course more paint is used on a larger canvas and the canvas itself more expensive, but it shouldn't deter anyone from trying something larger. Sales and use of student grade paints can overcome economics if you really want to try larger scale pieces.

It will take more time to paint a larger canvas and if you're one for instant gratification, then large paintings won't be your idea of fun.  Errors in your initial drawing will become magnified on a larger scale and what you could get away with on a small canvas won't stand up to scrutiny on a large one.

12 x 36 isn't that large, but suits my purposes for today.  I have much larger canvases sitting and waiting for the right piece to go on them.  However I do like the long horizontal or vertical formats that this size canvas enables.

How large are your paintings?  How large would you like to go?