Constructing a Painting

Agates

40x40", acrylic on canvas

Agates

40x40", acrylic on canvas

Red Truck

Agates

40x40", acrylic on canvas

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Constructing a Painting:

Agates, Swiss Candies, and Red Truck paintings shown above,
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Generally, if you are constructing a painting, it is a good idea to work on the background first, so you can lay foreground pieces over the back. This makes good sense. In many of my paintings, I can’t figure out what is the foreground, middle ground, or background, so I just head for the upper right area and take off from there.

Usually, in my acrylic work, I will need several coats of paint to create what is called “good paint quality.” Good paint quality will make one’s painting a pleasure to look at up close as well as from far away. Paint quality might be somewhat like pornography—hard to define, but you know it when you’re looking at it.

Many paintings, when they are in progress, look pretty horrid. If you are a beginner, this might send you into a mild panic. Often, looking pretty horrid is just a step toward the finished lovely product. Sometimes, of course, your painting, when finished, might still look horrid. That is part of the learning process, and if you have learned anything from doing a loser of a painting, you can consider it a success, hide it somewhere, and continue on.