PAINTING: That Place You Know (Winchester, VA)

So I decided to try my hand at painting again after the little 8 x 8s were so fun to make.  This time I wanted more of a challenge, though--I wanted it to look like something, not just tinker around with the paint and see what my imagination saw in it.

I've had this neat photo of three of our local landmarks (all on the same corner) for a few years and I'd been wanting to make something with it.  I was inspired to paint a night scene over black canvas after I'd seen a really great piece by my friend Jose, and I pulled out my old photo to see what I could do with it.

Painting for me is hard--I hate that the brush does weird things when I smoosh it down on the canvas, it drives me a little nuts to mix up different hues and shades all the time when my brain just wants to grab a pencil and layer colors, and oh my god waiting on drying times--argh!!  It's an exercise in futility, in my opinion.  BUT I also realize it's all a mindset and (as my mother says) I just have to stop over-thinking it and just DO it: my brain will figure it out with practice.

Whatever.  (sigh)  I know she's right, but it's just . . . difficult.

So, in the interest of just doing it I decided to go with the smooshiness and aim for something loose and impressionistic.  Granted, I DID spend some time studying impressionist works so I could see how they pulled all those layers together--just don't tell my mother.

It was fun!  Even with all that blow-drying between layers to speed things along.

That Place You Know, 9 x 12" acrylic on canvas.  2015

I had loaned this out to a pop up art show and got some really great comments from other artists and art patrons.  LOTS of requests to see this on a card or poster print, so stay tuned for that after I blow the dust off the zazzle site.

You can see the original photo next to the nearly-finished piece on my facebook page.