Recipe Contest Entry,A new Painting, large vs small, waste or not?

Today's Contest Entry comes from my friend and creator of Isabel's World. Isabel is a cow who has many fun adventures with Valerie.Valerie D’Ortona Thanks Valerie!!

Cole Slaw

3/4 cup mayo

1/2 lemon (only the juice, of course)

1/4 - 1/2 cup honey (start on the light side; add more to suit your taste
buds)

1/8 t. celery seed

Pinch of pepper and salt

Add sugar to taste

Add apple cider vinegar to thin

1 slice red pepper, chopped

1/4 small onion, chopped

Stir; add package of shredded cole slaw

Chill.




Yesterday Studio Dog and I spent an hour on the yard series. It was interrupted by countless phone calls for both my daughters. One is getting a new motor scooter and had to call me with each new one she looked at. The other is getting married on Saturday so there are many discussions going on. Not much was accomplished but we enjoyed the time together. As I took my painting into the studio and came back to get him he had discovered a mall bag of fertilizer. Yes friends, Henry has a way of trying to do himself in at every opportunity. Last time it was eating a tube of blue paint. I of course, panicked, and called the vet. She said to call the fertilizer company and get the skinny on product ingredients first. Happily, they reassured me that it was all organic and that they got frequent calls from terrified dog owners. He was fine, no harm, no foul. Another totally scary adventure with Studio Dog.

At that point I gave up on plein air for the day and moved into the studio. I started a 20x24 inch painting of a palm grove. I'm excited about it because I love working on those large birch panels. Sooo much fun.

Florida Palm Grove
20x24 inches
oil on birch panel
WIP Stage 1


I'm using another limited palette for this one of the following:

FUB(Old Holland)
Permasol Blue Deep(Shiva)
Naples Yellow Light(Utrecht)
Cad Yellow Lemon(Utrecht)
Red Iron Oxide(Utrecht)
Cad Orange(Shiva)
Sap Green(Daniel Greene)
Titanium White(Daniel Greene)

Palm Grove
Stage 2



It's interesting how our focus changes and alters as we go through stages of painting.I always seem to be going in the opposite direction from other painters. For years I was interested in the small format work from 4x6 to 8x10 inches. I did hundreds of those sized paintings alla prima each year. I still do a fair amount with gouache/acrylic/oils when I am on the road traveling, but I have lost my interest in small format for the present. I am really enjoying the 12x16-30x40 size now. I know that many painters are doing the Daily Paintings these days, but they don't interest me much anymore. I'm always in the wrong time for the trends. Back when I was doing daily paintings no one cared about them. Now they are the rage.

There is something about standing in front of a freshly primed, toned panel or stretched canvas in a large format that is both thrilling and intimidating at the same juncture. This is a real investment emotionally and financially. It costs money to do large paintings. It also is painfully apparent when one does poor work on large format. Small paintings are given a break if you will, because of their tiny size. Mistakes and poor composition can be overlooked in a tiny painting, as long as it is interesting, colorful and well executed in brushwork. Simplicity is the key with small format work. It is much harder to pull off in a large painting and many things can go terribly wrong in large format work. I believe that it is the larger painting which shows the skill of a painter. There are many who will disagree with me. I'm not saying that small format work isn't skilled because some of the very best paintings in history are very tiny. What I am saying is that to pull off large work well takes a different approach and really shows off a good painter's work, more than their good small work.

When you work in large format you have the issues of dead space that don't occur in a small painting. Good composition in a tiny painting is often poor composition in it's big brother. Making the transition from plein air studies to studio works is often difficult for the inexperienced painter and professional as well. It took me some time to go from being an alla prima painter in small format to learning to be a good studio painter.

Then there is the fear and intimidation factor in doing large work. Unless you have always done large work, it is an issue to deal with and overcome. One of my college professors always told me to have lots of big canvases in the studio. He said "Don't purchase them one at a time". He felt that having lots of them laying around ready to paint would reduce the intimidation factor and he was right. I am always more willing to dive into a painting when I know there are lots of canvases ready to work on. This works both with large and small format. That is one reason I always encourage my workshop students to use Index Paper to do paintings at my workshops. If it is only paper, they are willing to make mistakes and try new ideas, rather than worrying about what a canvas or panel will cost.

The same goes for paint. I buy lots of it and use what I want to, never concerning myself with how much it costs or what I have in the studio. I buy brushes, a dozen at a time for the same reason. I believe any obsession we may have about the cost of materials or making them too precious, will stunt our ability to paint well and to learn as painters. There is no such thing as a waste of materials if you are learning something.

You may say "that's all well and good for you Linda but I can't afford to be so free with my money". Let me assure you that I am far from comfortable financially and live very low indeed on the food chain. However, I know that painting well keeps food on the table and so I must be willing to be generous with myself in materials and attitude to sell work. One of the biggest problems I see for amateur and hobbyist painters is their miserly attitude about materials. They are often completely stymied in growth and development in their work because they are so focused on not wasting any little bit of materials. My most successful students have an attitude of joy in painting at whatever the cost.