floating on the horizon

Floating on the Horizon, 24 x 24.5, oil on masonite

available

There is a bit of a back and forth that I go through in cycles. For a while I feel highly motivated and have loads of energy that I channel into making and preparing my own panels for painting. Sometimes I use birth plywood and sometimes I use masonite. I attach the panels to wood support frames so there is a nice finished side profile for the paintings. That way they can be hung as they are without the need for framing if that isn't desirable or possible for a while! A couple weeks ago I bought up some supplies to make four 24" x 24" masonite panels. After cutting everything down to size I realized that the panels actually measure 24" x 24.5"...oops. I don't have the energy or desire to fix that, so they will stay as they are! Close enough! Good thing I'm not a perfectionist in all things... However, after all that hard work to prep the panels I find myself wondering if it would just be simpler and a more efficient use of time to just buy panels already made. I don't mind prepping, like gessoing and priming, etc... The building part is just so time consuming. So, this week I did a run to Blick in Providence...bought up a few cradled wood panels. The boys begged for some larger canvas panels to do some paintings on, so I accommodated them. Yeesh, it's easy to drop a lot of hard earned cash in that place! After racking up my bill I had to say no to the boys' requests for little wooden figure models and tiny packets of modeling clay...I'm so mean! So, perhaps in another month or so I'll get the bug to build some more panels, but for now I'm going to work through the ones I've got and see where we are...

This painting is the first to be done on one of my own panels. I really don't usually like to praise my own paintings, but I really love this one. It's going to be a hard one to say goodbye to, when the time comes, and I hope it comes! The buttery textures and bold contrast in the waves, the rocks, the foreground, and the wispy clouds in the upper left...it all comes together to form the energy of this piece. I was a bit daunted by this painting initially. The panel felt huge for some reason, even though it is not the largest painting by far that I've ever done. I spent a few days working on it, and the brushes came away for the last time yesterday. I walked by my studio for the rest of the day without ever going in for a peak at it. I was a bit afraid of what I would think of it. So, I finally walked back in to see it in the evening, and it worked its magic on me. It's now available! Please take a look at the link above to see more images of this painting!

Detail

First brushstrokes...just the vague idea of the finished painting!