Girl on Fire!

I finally got into my giant chest this week (It has had a very heavy TV sitting on top of it for 2 or more years!) and rediscovered all my art treasures – papers, various art materials I forgot I had, and old art work.  One of the art materials I forgotten I had was water soluble oils, which a number of you have recommended to me as an answer to my problems with using traditional oils.  

So I set to and put Gesso on various sizes of card, with the idea of experimenting.  At this point my brain went blank, all that white!  In such situations I flip through my sketch book hoping for inspiration.  I got lucky, there was this sketch, I remembered doing it in the local park last week at lunchtime, it was so hot that this woman was laying on a blue rug half in the sun and half in the shade.  She looked as if she was on fire!

So I set to and painted this lovely in 1 hour! (A3) Wow.  I have to say I liked using these paints, not as buttery as oils but they have body to them.  Also it dried overnight (I imagine longer if the weather was colder).  I like working in layers, so that would cut down waiting time.

Not to be corny I was on fire!  When I was going through my chest I came across some paintings I did a few years ago.  I was very much into landscape, the history and the mapping of it by early explorers.  See below.  It is really interesting to look at old work and where you were then.  I obviously was into not letting the brush marks show!  So different from now, I love to do work that has more expressive quality – painterly I think the term is.  I got bored with that theme, and stopped doing landscapes.  

Something strange happened this week.  The next painting I started on was an actual canvas, and it was a landscape, but painterly! It is not finished yet, still a work in progress. It is a manageable size 20x24, and with the water soluble oils I think I will have no trouble finishing.  Maybe, I got bored because I was not putting myself into the previous works?  Anyway, I am going to go with this development, as I felt that frizz of excitement within me as I painted.  You can’t ignore that!

I don’t think I will ever stop painting my ladies - I can’t, I want to take part in the 29 faces in February!  But I do think I have a new subject area to explore.

Have a happy PPF day everybody and a great week ahead creating lovely masterpieces.

(Does anyone know if ordinary oils are compatible with water soluble?  I have so many unfinished oils; it would be neat if I could finish them using the water based oils.  I tried painting over the trad oil with the water based and it sticks.  But I would hate it if it all fell of later!)

Linking to Paint Party Friday