Over the past month, I’ve reached the stage where everything starts to slow down a little in the studio. The layers build, and as I move closer to finishing paintings, I spend more time looking before moving to paint. I try to work with what is already on the canvas, and I often feel like I’m balancing extremes, working over huge atmospheric washes with mark making. But when it finally works, and when the pieces fit together I love the contrast of sweeping washes against smaller, more intentional mark making.
I’ve also been looking into homemade painting tools, and I told myself that I would make some… but, I’ve fallen head over heals again with my squeegees! So I’m book marking that project for the future. Squeegees are so useful for making large organic, rough marks that almost reflect the texture of rocks when used with slightly thinned oil paint. Another tool that has been indispensable has been spare scraps of canvas left over from stretching. They move the paint around really well, lasting a longer than rags, and the scruffier bits of canvas are great for scratchy marks, plus it puts waste material to good use.