Oil on Ampersand panel, 8"x8"Oil on Ampersand panel, 8"x8"
Oil on stretched canvas, 10"x10"
What a challenge these were. I had to dig out some of my tiny brushes for these. Over the past year or so I have been working fairly large, so jumping into this set of commissioned paintings was a shock to the system. I believe that a good painting(my style anyway) starts with a good drawing. I am totally OK with spending time tweaking that aspect before I squeeze any paint, but these little babies were tough! At such a small scale, "mistakes" really stick out. I like to draw and paint using my arm/shoulder(you know what I mean), but I had to forgo that familiar motion, and use just my hand. Challenging and really took me out of my comfort zone. To make things even more interesting, I painted on a support that I have never used before: Ampersand textured panels for the two 8x8's.
As far as subject matter, I probably would have never considered this antique duck toy for a painting. It just doesn't contain things I look for when choosing things to paint. However, it turned out to be quite satisfying to paint. I am really pleased with how these pieces turned out.
