PROCESS
People often ask me about my process and also how long it takes to me to paint and painting. One of those questions is easier to answer than the other. And both answers depend on the painting.
Once I have my drawing on the canvas I start by blocking in my main shadows—and sometimes sculpting the shapes—with a dark violet. I like to use violet because it’s dark enough to see under the next layers, but it also provides a color to work with rather than a flattening black.
The next step I take depends on the subject matter. Sometimes I will go straight to building up layers of color for the painting like—for example—if I am working on one with a lot of colored neon. For a painting like that I like the white background of the canvas to work from. It keeps the colors for the neon nice and bright ( think white primer ) as I build one layer on top of another. The other option is what I did here. After I blocked in my shadows and shapes with violet I did a thin layer of Raw Sienna. This is a warm golden yellow brown color. I cover all or most of the painting with this undercolor which provides a unifying feel to the end result even if your brain doesn’t overtly see it. Little traces of it show up throughout the painting. It’s nice. Both are nice.
For me it just depends on the subject.
The time is takes to finish a painting also varies. And it’s not always about size. Some big paintings can finish up quicker than a small one. Again, it’s a lot about the subject and how many layers of paint it needs. I usually work on four or more paintings at once and when one gets close to being completed I will start another one and get it into the queue. I try to complete three a month, but that doesn’t always happen.
So back to the question. How long does it take for me to finish a painting? It just depends.
