"PROCESS"

This painting is taking too long so I thought I'd give 

you something if you're interested. Here's my palette of

colors for this painting. I like to make sure I have every color

I need because I don't want to introduce a new color halfway

through the painting - it never works for me visually. 

I have 4 new brushes for this 30"H X 40"W painting

my palette is a piece of glass on top of gray chipboard

so I can use my scraper to clean the glass periodically.

My medium is walnut oil and nothing else this is

 my non-toxic approach to oil painting. 

I wear gloves religiously and try not to slosh paint every where.

I find this approach works best for me. I don't waste paint or time.

Although this painting is taking forever - go figure!

This is what it looks like after the first hour.

I try to work in hour blocks - take the dogs for a walk

around the block and set up another hour of work. 

This helps to get away from the image and kind of start fresh

on my return from my short 10 minute walk.

This what my messy palette looks like. I've found

that if I clean my palette every hour or so my colors 

stay cleaner and brighter. So before I begin again I 

clean this mess and start painting again.

This should've been the first photo. Here's

my setup. Photos to the right of the canvas for reference 

my matt is a camping pad - easily moved from side to

side as I work my way across the canvas.

My painting cart is on rollers as well so it's

easy to move as well. Makes for a great painting

experience. I only paint standing up - I've tried sitting down

but it doesn't work for me. I need to step back after each stroke

 and take a look - it's exhausting but it's an important part of my process. 

I don't wear my glasses to paint - thank goodness I'm near 

sighted - therefore I don't have to squint to paint.

Thanks for waiting - I can't believe how long this painting is taking.  

Go Figure!