Finishing Touches

I had to go back in and "finish" this painting, especially after doing the drawing of her and seeing how much information I missed when I did the initial study. Here is a link to the first two hour painting if you want to see where I started.  I had a picture I took with my phone for detail so that helped. I mostly wanted to correct the values. Doing a two hour drawing emphasized the difference between light and shadow and I think I missed that the first time around. So here is "Amended Ami", with the areas in light just a bit lighter, the darks just a bit darker, some manganese blue added to cool the background and a few edges softened.

Ami
9" x 12" oil on linen
SOLD

Back to Anyo - the Final Piece

I am pretty happy with the way the final version of Anyo, our Caeroon model, turned out. I ended up using a lot of paint on my palette knife to go over the rougher edges left by the old landscape painting beneath her. Overall I would definitely recommend the process of "rework" if you have a quality canvas or board that can take the additional layers. I don't think I would put more than one painting over another, although my friend Jim had suggested he might eventually be able to produce a 2 inch thick painting if he kept covering up his disasters. I hope (know) he was kidding but I don't see anything wrong with doing the recycling process once.

The artist has to be aware of and know how to deal with previous bits and pieces from the old painting. If you're someone who likes to paint in a thin layered style this technique will frustrate you  greatly. But if you are someone like me- who likes to experiment, scrape and sometimes even destroy the layers underneath to create some kind of new craziness you will enjoy it.

If you have varnished the old painting you will need to remove the varnish before attempting this technique. I don't usually varnish my loser paintings so that's not going to be a problem with me. If I thought one was good enough to varnish I usually put it up for sale and it's long gone.

20" x 24"

oil on canvas over board (Pintura™)

SOLD

SOLD

Rework!

Rework is a dreaded word in a factory but not in the art studio.
Definition: rework [riːˈwɜːk] vb (tr)

1. to use again in altered form the theme has been reworked in countless well-known poems

2. to rewrite or revise

3. to reprocess for use again

I worked for a large commercial printer years ago and we were all unhappy when we heard the word "rework". Usually something was printed that was not the right color or it  had been put together wrong. For whatever reason we had to rush through the process of re-printing the job and fixing the mistake to save our reputation. Not fun....

However, in my art studio I like to think of rework as the opportunity to make something better. I have a lot of paintings that just never made it into a frame because they were not ready for prime time.  Or maybe the paintings looked good to me when I finished them a couple years ago but now that my standards are a little higher I see things that could be improved. For whatever reason, I see the painting and I want to throw some more paint onto it. Sometimes I'll change the design and strengthen a focal point. Often it's a matter of creating some atmosphere by pushing the background farther into the background. If I can't bring the painting to a point where I am willing to sign my name to it I will throw it away. Some artists will use the canvas in a collage of leftover rejects but I have tried this and I don't recommend it for reasons I won't go into right now.

This is Nicole, a portrait I painted a couple years ago and one I was never quite happy with. She was fifteen years old at the time. I made a few adjustments over the weekend: a wardrobe change, a background change and a nose job. Now I'm happy with the painting. It may not be the same Nicole who modeled for me but it is a version I like better, one with a message of youth and innocence. The original red background was not a good choice for this theme but when you paint in a group as I do other artists' preferences can sometimes override your own.I had thought the red background too overpowering for this young girl, who seemed to project wholesomeness and good will. The beauty of oil paint is that you can make it what you want anyway.