Capturing the moment.

Hello and welcome to my Monday Blog.

I am not concerned with painting the moment literally 

but my work is still inspired by what I see around me.

'Capturing the moment' however, is an important part of my painting life.

It could be something about what the moment meant for me; like a

glimpse of my feelings or a flash of inspiration as I make marks.

 Most of my paintings evolve spontaneously as I work and capturing

 the elusive moment can often be a struggle as I wrestle with paint on canvas.

When struggle happens I usually keep working through it to reach a

conclusion but occasionally I have to admit defeat and begin again.

When everything goes wrong...

Below is a photograph of a recent painting in my studio.

I wasn't happy with it so I decided to 'finish' the work.

In other words I felt I hadn't quite captured the moment. 

Big mistake.  It was one of those times when everything went wrong.

Instead of adding colour, my mixing on the palette became mud.

As you can see below...

This photograph shows a thick layer of red-brown mud covering the canvas.

The only part untouched is top left.

  It was time to stop as this painting was not going forward.

 I left the canvas on the easel overnight.

A new day and new ideas...

Today I brushed solvent onto the canvas to soften the oil paint.

 I scraped most of the mud away with a knife and finished off with rags.

The canvas was soon dry enough to add some colour.

Working with knife and brush I began to bring the painting

 back to life taking care not to repeat the muddy version.

  I wanted to leave parts of the first painting to show through as a 

reminder of my journey.  It would be a story of struggle and escape.

I have posted the two images below to see the differences.

Apart from the colours I think the new one has more strength.

      

  

The canvas can also be viewed two ways which adds variety.

It looks quite different in a landscape format.

Either way...I think I have captured my moment.

 'To capture a moment' 

Oils on box canvas  24 x 36 inches

    More senses...

I try to give a sense of space and place when I paint.

It is easy to give an impression of space on a large canvas

but it can also work with a small one like this 'seascape' on my easel.

This small board measures 10 x 12 inches.

There is a high horizon and it could depict a shore at low tide.

The paint is thickly applied and sculpted with a knife.

My aim was to create a sense of place and space.

The 'impression of seeing'...

To view my progress I step backwards to see how the painting looks from a distance.  

Working close up is never seen quite the same as when standing back.

Visually, my work changes for me as I move away from the easel.

We cannot view close up and far away at the same time.

It can be like looking at two pieces of work.

Another way of 'seeing' is to take a photograph of the work.

I can often see which parts to change if it looks unbalanced.

Or using a mirror to view the painting over my shoulder

which gives me a different impression of seeing.

As it is nearly midnight I will close before Tuesday arrives.

Until next Monday...

Thank you for visiting