I love to paint in tones of green. The painting that I did this past week in my painting class started as one painting and then it decided it wanted to be completely different. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of the first layer. Fortunately the first layer is just random colors, so it is not a big problem.
I told the class that I had been painting Ireland. My intent was to not paint Ireland in this class. That was not the case, however. It had a lot of red-orange at the top and very bright yellow green at the bottom. It became more and more green until it morphed into what I think is one of my best paintings of Ireland.
The Green, Green Grass of Home, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 x 3/4 inches. Ann Hart Marquis
As with most of my paintings I like to create layer over layer what various mark-making lines in each layer. My teacher calls me a builder. I rather like that reference. When she saw the finished painting she commented that there must be 32 different greens in it.
Due to being in this class, this painting and the one I am working on now will be in an upcoming group exhibit at a very lovely restaurant here in Albuquerque. This is a busy time in New Mexico because the weather is quite wonderful—sunny and a little cool. The exhibit will run from October 1 – December 30, 2016.
Also each October the International Hot Air Balloon Show is held here and Albuquerque is packed with tourists for at least a week. It is a good time to be in an art exhibit.
And my current painting which will also be in the exhibit is an abstract in hues of orange and magenta! It is not green. It does not remind me of Ireland. I purposely left all my greens and blues at home the day of the class. I just took reds, yellow and magenta. It seems a bit shocking to me at the moment. We will see how I finish it.
Ann, I’m out straight right now but I LOVE this painting and, if you’d like a thoughtful comment of greater length, I invite you to remind me in about four weeks : )
Thank you Dotty. I will put 4 weeks on my calendar.
Hey, Ann, I have a few moments of calm at my disposal so wanted to pop back here and say again that I like this painting. My eye is drawn to the layers and building, to the depth and atmosphere created by that approach of flux, i.e. layering, mark-making, veiling, obscuring, mark-making, layering, layering, scraping back, mark-making, and layering. You create a captivating color field—greens that cover the vast majority of the canvas, in their multiple variations. This piece is both quiet and powerful. What tools did you use for its creation? Did you use painting knives?
Thank you Dotty for taking the time to really look at this painting and noticing all of the different techniques that were used. I really like to do mark making and then cover a substantial part of what I put on the canvas. I started this painting in my class and then painted over most of it the next day. I didn’t like the colors that I used, but I did let some of them show through like the red-orange at the top. One of the ideas that my teacher Janet Bothne emphasizes is to change whatever tool you are using often. So I would use a regular palette knife for 10 minutes or so and then switch to a large knife, then a house painting brush then a 1 inch acrylic brush. I even used an old credit card to pull the paint around. I also use a brayer now and then. Variation of application was the goal. I like this painting to. Thanks again for being such a faithful commenter. You ask great questions.