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Friday 24 January 2014

On a Roll...



At last!  A week that has gone fantastically well, despite storms and earthquakes!



On Monday, I was gardening and wearing my new gardening gloves that are necessary because of psoriasis.  Looking at them I thought I wonder?  They were made of thin cotton and had a plastic coating on the palms and fingertips.  So in I went and got out my oil painting stuff and hey presto it was lunch time and my hands didn’t get sweaty and they protected my rashy bits!  Yay, I can use my oils again!  The above small painting (12 x12 Inches) is the result, still a work in progress.

I have got used to my acrylics, but for big paintings I just haven’t got comfortable using them.  I still love using acrylics in my journal and on canvas boards.  But I so missed using them on big paintings.

detail of wip


So this week I have been playing with my oils again and I am very happy.  The earthquake on Monday at 4 0’clock threw my equilibrium out a bit, it went on for a long time and several things came crashing down, no wonder it was 6.2 and the epicenter was 30 km away!  I was a gibbering fool for the rest of the day and next morning when I saw the damage it had done around town.  But heyho we get over these things.


Tuesday afternoon I got out one of my old abandoned oils (there are lots of them!)



This painting I started in June last year, and has been littering a corner in my bedroom ever since as I got stuck. So, I painted over it, within no time I had this.  It is a large canvas about 30 x 36 inches.


I had to let it dry for a day so yesterday (Thursday) and this morning I did more work and have got this far.



While writing this I realized why I felt uncomfortable with acrylics for big paintings.  With oils you have to wait for the paint to dry if you work like I do in layers or glazes. It gives you time to consider the possibilities, I often don’t do what I think I am going to do, but something comes clear within me and my hand just paints..   As acrylics dry very quickly I can keep on painting and I often try and put too much in! It is hard to explain, but I hope that it makes sense?

Anyways that is what I have been up to this week, I am linking to Paint Party Friday hosted by the wonderful ladies Eva and Kirstin.