Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Twilight Mood


I finished this 8x10 a day or so ago at something like 2 a.m., as appropriate a time as any, I guess, to be touching in atmospheric mist. First step was an all-over mud underpainting that I then wiped away in an abstract design. I let that semi-dry and then went back and laid the whole thing over with a new layer of mist in the proper places and painted in branch-like forms that you can hardly see in the photo. The final stage was to finesse the border zone between the positive forms (the "trees") and the negative shapes (the "mist"). Sometimes this stage can be tough and one has to let the thing dry and try again another day. This time it went smoothly, and it was really fun to do. I'm still bent on pushing these "landscapes" into abstract territory, hopefully without breaking the mood. Each time I finish one, it suggests all kinds of variations and ideas for new and better ones that blow past the latest try's shortcomings.

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