Practice

As artists we need to practice our craft to have regular growth.  Over time I've seen patterns in my growth and reoccurring themes across mediums.  On this blog thread I would to share some of my practice pieces and a little bit about them.  Feel free to comment and share yours.  Be sure to check out my Still Life page for a gallery of free images if you would like to play along.

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The Hammer Painting

2019 - Hammer - 14" x 14" - acrylic on canvas.

This hammer image was my first attempt at close up realism in Acrylic Paint on canvas.  It was fun, challenging and took far longer than I anticipated.  When I set out the goal was to render a close up, almost abstract, image with details.  The final painting was a little less abstract than what was in my minds eye as the perspective was not as close-up.  This exercise required me to figure out how to render wood grain with acrylic paint and how to mix a multitude of rusty and metal colors from the for primary colors yellow, red, blue and white while keeping differences in value and texture.  At one point, while blocking in the image, the thought crossed my mind to stop painting as the abstract image appealed to me so greatly.  

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This is cropped a little closer to my original intent.

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