Textured Boards
I'm working on a series of 8x10s at the moment. Most are progressing from motifs I've recently painted as 5x7s.
"Quiet Afternoon" (6x9) by M Francis McCarthy
I'm doing the 8x10's on some nice pine boards I have in my studio. They've been textured in a manner similar to how I like to prep my 5x7 boards.
I create the texture using the flat side of a large brush and some acrylic gesso tinted with Burnt Sienna. This gives me a nice random but even texture that helps pull paint off the brush.
The result is a bit more diffraction of my brushwork on the finished painting than on a smooth surface. I've been doing this on my 5x7 paintings for a few years now but moving up a size is new and pretty fun.
It's good to move things around a bit and change it up once in awhile. Still I really like working directly on a nice hardwood like kuari. So, I'm also doing about Five 8x8's with a smoothly prepped surface.
When I paint on a smoother wood board, the textures are more built up by the brush stokes. This looks nice but so does the textured surface. I've been playing with canvas also but I'm not sure I'll ever love it as I do painting on wood.
I'm thinking of developing the strongest motifs into even larger paintings. I never get the same painting twice though there are definite similarities.
I'm going to write more about revisiting motifs in a future blog I think.
Cheers,
A bit about "Quiet Afternoon". I painted this about four years ago. It's definitely a tonalist inspired painting. It was painted on a textured maple wood panel. The motif comes from the perc ponds behind my old art studio in Campbell California.
Not sure where my reference photo is now but I am sure that I worked pretty close to it. Thats one of the biggest differences in my painting approach now. I'm far more free with changing the scene to address compositional issues than I was four years ago.
I am happy with "Quiet Afternoon" and I recall putting a ton of work into this small painting. It's funny how long it takes to really understand the landscape painting "game". I'm not sure that anyone could ever hit the end of all that's involved with creating a good landscape painting. God willing I will have a few more decades to really get down with it.