Sometimes a painting will tell me how big it needs to be. This was the case today, when I pulled out a 6 x 4 inch canvas, and then sorted through some of the un-filed photo references to pick something to brighten your day. A couple of photos of this girl washing "her favorite racehorse" at Del Mar caught my eye, and so I composited it up into a quick design. It wouldn't cooperate and fit into a rectangle. And the power of the structure of the painting wouldn't lend itself to a small format of only six inches. Take a look at the lines and movement of the structure, and think about where your eye goes as it wanders over the canvas. Each part is designed to carry your eye on a journey. Even the two buckets need to be there.
So to solve my dilemma about size, I retrieved a canvas from my "paint over them before they see the light of day" pile and brought this one to life on a 12 x 12 inch box canvas. When I paint over a canvas, I always paint thickly, and never over one that has a final varnish. It was with a sigh of relief that I obliterated a cute palm tree with a coconut wrapped like a present. You don't want to go there, trust me!
Join with me tonight as I raise a glass of wine to honor the sacrifice of a bad painting, and to celebrate with you the birth of a better one.
12 x 12 inches, on gallery-wrap (no framing needed) and I'm enjoying the painting of human figures these few days. $400
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