Robin Troy's Fine Art Journal

Painting Quickly in Seattle

I created a 24" x 24" oil painting Tuesday night using a direct painting method handed down to artists by the Impressionists. I've been working with Barbara Fugate at Gage Academy in Seattle for the last couple years to study this approach.

This style of painting suits me quite well because it leverages my natural inclination to render images with gusto!

The image to the right is the piece in the  early stages when I have some simple goals: cover the canvas with paint as quickly as possible, employ an intentional strategy with my color use (in this case reds and violets) and block out shadow and light (forgetting about the form in front of me) in simple forms.

The painting was completed in two and a half hours (with model breaks it's probably a little under two hours of actual painting.) I mention the time only to give you a sense of what it feels like to paint something this way with no under-painting as a guide and little time to think. Direct painting is reactive. One quickly lays in a color in various places on the canvas and steps back to see the effect. Then the mind races: how to fix, how to retain a perfect mark, what to do next.

 

Detail shot:

Seated Nude

Here are some in progress shots of a painting that is almost complete. I'm working with a limited palette - primarily blues and oranges with a touch of green for contrast. I'm building up the surface quite a bit and then scraping it back, a process that I find risky and exciting.

I've exaggerated the legs intentionally. The next and hopefully last thing I'll do to this painting is to add color and crispness to the legs so that they really pop and maybe highlight the shoes some more.

 

Two Girls and a Motorcycle

(And the Google search hits keep coming...)

I'm only a few hours in to this painting so its pretty rough but I like where its going:

The background needs to change dramatically. The figures and bike are coming along nicely and will just keep getting more refined.

Ribbon Painting: Nearly done

I made more progress on my ribbon painting on Saturday. I could work on this for an eternity but I think I'll clean up the edges, add some more depth to some colors and then abandon it so that I can move on to the next incarnation. I'd like to tackle another one but make a change in my approach. I am going to start the next one with no under-drawing. Instead of planning out the design in advance, I'd like to see what emerges if I paint one ribbon at a time and see where it takes me. It's riskier but could have a bigger pay off (such is life, eh?)

When it's complete I'll write about the inspiration for the piece and the reason I am pursuing this particular exploration.

Hopefully I'll have another start of a painting to post later today. I'm starting a new piece as an assignment for a painting class I'm taking. I have been studying with Barbara Fugate for some time now and she offered me and another long time student some additional mentorship. She is giving us assignments to work on outside of class and will be giving us feedback along the way. Today's assignment: "What is Red?" Stay tuned...