Big brush

“Big Brush,” 9″ x 12″, oil on canvas board, NFS

Ref image:

Today’s piece was an experiment. First, I wanted to force myself to use ONLY a big brush. Probably a number 6 (but it says 3/4″ on it). It was exceedingly huge compared to my normal number 2 and number 4.

I also wanted to leave a lot of the underpainting showing through, to have thin darks/shadows, and let the piece have an abstract look to it. I was also going for some bright colors.

What didn’t work:

• I don’t think pavement works as blue, though, having done that twice now
• The pavement would have been better without so much brushwork. I wanted the focal point to be the speed bump but it got drowned out
• Green not used anywhere but at the top

What did work:

• The sky/trees/cars came out very well. I almost think I could cut the canvas and keep the top 6″
• I did stay with the big brush
• The background does show through quite a bit
• I was able to keep the cars very, very simple but still recognizable
• I learned a LOT

If you have to do 100 paintings (some say 1000, some say 120) before you get good, I’m well on my way. This is my 6th painting, I believe, and I’m already more comfortable with the paint; I’ve made about 80% less mud. I’ve overcome the fear of the canvas. I’m pushing myself to overcome the fear of “what if this isn’t a good painting?”

You know what? Nobody cares.

This picture is just me taking a picture of a shadow I saw over a speed bump in a parking lot. I wanted this particular photo to be a reference for this learning painting precisely because it’s a speed bump, both literally and figuratively. Speed bumps are meant to slow you down, and you do slow, sometimes, and then go a little bit faster after passing over it just to spite the damned thing.