Playing around with painting
Having freed myself from the dictates of what I paint and how I paint I have begun to play around with images and equipment.
Most of my latest painting has been done with pieces of sponge and crushed tissues, paper napkins or even toilet paper. I am finding it easier to get the images or design that I want using such things as opposed to brushes. Experimental is the word.
I started painting this photo below because I liked the colours but, with limited knowledge and limited paints and no thinner because I am in Africa and one cannot buy such things here, I have ended up with something different:
And what I got was this work in progress which looks nothing like the photo, contains nothing like the colours, but may end up respectable all the same. It sort of has an African feel to it which was my goal. It seemed silly to live in Africa and not paint something with an African theme.
The thing about Malawi in particular is there is such a sense of distance, mountains disappearing into a blue-tinged haze, and a rolling of the land toward a far horizon. I guess that is what I would like to capture with this painting.
I am not sure whether to turn the 'white' at the top into clouds or mountains but the beauty of oil is that of course, one can paint over anything. It is one of the reasons as a novice that I chose it as a medium. I figure if anything can be corrected eventually then there is lots of wriggle room.
After another fiddle I am pondering clouds but I might have to look at it for a few days and make up my mind as to whether the perspective demands snow-capped mountains.
One thing is sure this is some way from being finished. Not that I am in a hurry because I have only one other canvas and will have to wait until one of us gets to Joburg or elsewhere to purchase more.
Having freed myself from the dictates of what I paint and how I paint I have begun to play around with images and equipment.
Most of my latest painting has been done with pieces of sponge and crushed tissues, paper napkins or even toilet paper. I am finding it easier to get the images or design that I want using such things as opposed to brushes. Experimental is the word.
I started painting this photo below because I liked the colours but, with limited knowledge and limited paints and no thinner because I am in Africa and one cannot buy such things here, I have ended up with something different:
And what I got was this work in progress which looks nothing like the photo, contains nothing like the colours, but may end up respectable all the same. It sort of has an African feel to it which was my goal. It seemed silly to live in Africa and not paint something with an African theme.
The thing about Malawi in particular is there is such a sense of distance, mountains disappearing into a blue-tinged haze, and a rolling of the land toward a far horizon. I guess that is what I would like to capture with this painting.
I am not sure whether to turn the 'white' at the top into clouds or mountains but the beauty of oil is that of course, one can paint over anything. It is one of the reasons as a novice that I chose it as a medium. I figure if anything can be corrected eventually then there is lots of wriggle room.
After another fiddle I am pondering clouds but I might have to look at it for a few days and make up my mind as to whether the perspective demands snow-capped mountains.
One thing is sure this is some way from being finished. Not that I am in a hurry because I have only one other canvas and will have to wait until one of us gets to Joburg or elsewhere to purchase more.
posted by Roslyn Ross at 7:28 pm
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