Red Velvet Cake

The more I worked on this painting the more I realized that this picture was not about a piece of cake but about a deep longing, nostalgia is always out of reach.

I cribbed the landscape from this vintage postcard I found at my parents house. I've got a stack of them, all from the 30's and 40's, collected by my Dad's Mom and Aunts, I look at them quite a bit. In my next painting I'm using the boat, it's going to be hauling a giant pumpkin. Is it Fall yet?

Underpainting

Back to painting on board this week after 2 months of canvasses. I also returned to using acrylics for the underpainting (I kept the ones out I used for the violin). Four layers of an ultramarine-raw sienna wash were first applied and then the loose painting you see above. This initial step knocks back the bright white of the gesso ground, since I paint in thin layers the underpainting allows me to start building the color and light right from the get-go. This will be a moon lit scene, with a piece of Red Velvet Cake hovering over the lake, this should be fun.

ReTune Violin

This week I finished painting the violin (see post below) for ReTune Nashville, once I decided on a concept the process was all fun. I had to hold the violin while painting so I switched to acrylic paint, wow! does it dry fast, it took a few hours to turn off my oil painting methods and adjust to the new technique, not much blending with this stuff.

This is the back, that's the Ryman Auditorium for the top of the ark, with musicians exiting below. To paint the tiny details I used an old brush I found that had about 4 hairs left, worked surprisingly well.

Foam egg cartons make a great palette for acrylic paint.

The benefit is Saturday, October 23rd. in Nashville, go, buy something.