Red pot, warm light

This is a quick-ish painting that was approached with an Alla Prima sensibility, but actually worked on in a few short sessions where the paint dried in between. It happened that way due to time and light constraints really, although getting an underpainting down and dried was a help to me.

The panel was an old one with a previous painting scrubbed out and re-primed with a couple of coats of oil primer. Yet again I found it a struggle to work on the resulting surface, which was weirdly smooth and too non-absorbent. The paint slid, it dried unevenly, things that I feel add to the already difficult task of creating a picture. I don’t know why I keep persevering with these kinds of panels. Actually, I do. I have quite a few prepared and I hate to see things go to waste. There’s also a perverse enjoyment in challenging myself to keep trying again and not to be beaten. It’s self defeating though and kind of stupid!

I have been thinking a lot about paint application and am going to experiment further with using less medium, or maybe keeping a higher turps ratio for longer, and seeing how I get on with building thicker, more textural strokes. I also wonder if I can get a drier, less slippery lay-in in place that starts to superficially dry within each short session and means I can build upon and refine it in one go. That’s not really very well explained. Hopefully my painter friends will know what I mean. Trying to describe the personal and often instinctual physicality of putting down paint is not an easy thing to do.