Have plan in writing.

Every artist should have their plan in writing, of some form or another. For me, I like having a full 12 month calendar on my studio wall and a big ideas, steps & goals sheet as well.

At the bottom of this picture is my spreadsheet of ideas, steps & goals for 2010... this is earlier in year.




Below is the same sheet this week. I've crossed stuff out, added more and elaborated. I can keep some ideas & plans at my forefront without getting bogged down with lots of details.




(PS... as far as a full year calendar... the time periods when I've had 12 months posted, visible & accessible have been more productive years. It also helps me to foresee my crazy points during year!)

Painting with oils

For about a month, I've been painting with oils in my studio. You may know that I am best known for my pastel paintings, but I love working with both mediums for different reasons.

Below you can see detail shots of my two most recent oil paintings. I like the contrast between the first one which is more layers of "dry brush" oil application and the bottom one is very wet oil paint applied with palette knives.




The above detail illustrates the similarities between oil and pastel. My surface is textured with earlier applications of gesso and first paint layers. Then, I drag oil paint on a brush across this texture. (When I paint with oils, I work on several paintings at a time to ensure a drying of most recent layer.)




This painting is done all at one time, with lots of wet paint pushed and pulled across the surface with a couple of my favorite palette knives. It might be finished... I will let it totally dry before deciding. I may glaze over it. (On a side note, I love the way this looks like the surface of moving water... inspired by many hours of river studies!)

Here's a better picture...