In the Studio | I Work In Layers

I paint in layers. And recently, a client who was watching me paint asked that I stop after the first layer because she liked the way it looked. I had just started, but to her eye it was finished. I had to agree with her.

My first layers are always highly intuitive and tend toward the abstract. It's mostly a simple combination of color choice and line quality. So I thought it would be interesting to share the four layers of my last painting so that you can see what happens in each stage.

With the second layer, I like to cover more of the canvas with color. And I also like to come in with white paint and block out some of what I painted in the first layer. I also start to use my fingers in creating the little circles of paint that show up in most of my paintings.

In the third layer, I like to come back with some of the colors from the first layer and build up the structure of the image I'm creating. I also add details that appear in the foreground - if there are any such objects.

And the final piece usually includes all of the little finishing touches and detailed mark making that help to bring my vision for the work into focus. Sometimes this means calming the piece down with lighter colors to create a sense of space or sometimes it means adding more marks. (I'm a hopeless maximalist when it comes to pattern.)

Here is a detail shot of the lower part of the painting.

Here's the original photo I used as inspiration for the painting. 

Oh... and surprise! I made two!