Okay well, this week I finally got to try combining my new oil painting skills with acrylic painting and it was …. a bit shaky.
Rather than falling back into my usual ways of working with acrylics- with lots of washes, dry brushing and texture I followed what Eli taught us, working with water spray bottles and using the paints undiluted.
I did incorporate a little texture and some spray painted stencils. I experimented a little with spraying alcohol on the acrylic paints, it created a cool texture when I first squirted it on but then the paints were so wet the texture was soon lost.
The process was to use acrylics like we use oil paints. First kill the white, then add a mid tone and use the subtractive method to pull out the highlights. Use transparent glazes to add in the darks. Let it all dry and then move on to oils- following the same kind of methods, glazing in the warms and cools in oils, adding in the darks, and then working in the opaques.
All in all I like the drama in the painting, it like the orange and blue colour scheme, I like the way the hands are loosely rendered but the effect still comes through. I like the way the eyes are more rendered, making them the natural focal point. But, with the composition being so close cropped it lacks a certain depth.
All in all it doesn’t yet ‘feel’ like me, my soul isn’t resonating with it.
The other part of this week was the reflection, so we began to do some self examination, looking at what drives us, what motivates us, what effect do we want to have in the world. I know this is important work, arguably more important than the painting tasks but it does just kinda feel a bit like journaling, or navel gazing.
What I have learned these past few weeks as I reflect on what I enjoy about my art practice and in life, is a common theme of ‘connection’. I enjoy connecting with people through my art, but I have yet to see how that will feed in my ‘superpower’. I think there are a few different things to explore and I don’t really understand what Eli means by superpower.
Sometimes I do feel a bit guilty, that I should have bigger dreams than just selling little paintings and donating a portion of the proceeds to plant trees, but I suppose small goals lead to bigger goals.
Eli said this would be the last time we’d work on canvas for awhile, so paper, here I come!
