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Every painting has to be some sort of challenge, to me at least. So I change things, do them in a different way, or try something I've never attempted before. Sometimes the paintings are successes, and at other times they are not. That makes for a more interesting life...

 

I recently did 3 paintings in order to test the difference between painting with a knife and painting with brushes.

 

 

 

Peonies and Crystal (to the right) was painted with a painting knife. That is the way I was taught, and there are two advantages to that: 1) No cleaning of brushes, just wipe off the knife on a paper towel. Colors stay very clean this way. 2) It is easy to paint wet-in-wet without mixing the colors too much. As I work with paint straight from the tubes, in layers of color spots, this is definitely a plus.

 

Geraniums and Chair (middle) was created by using the same technique of color, but with brushes. One brush for the darker and cooler colors, and one for the lighter and warmer ones. That way, I didn't have to clean the brushes until the painting session was over. But (there is always a but, isn't there?) the bristle brushes tended to disturb previous layers of color, so I had to let areas dry before working over them. (That led to a discovery, which will be revealed in the next episode on this blog.)

 

Cornflowers (left) got the use of brushes, but in a manner where I mixed the colors on the palette as  well as on the canvas. I quite like this manner of painting, as I don't loose the luminosity, and the process is somewhat faster, as there is less drying time needed because I layer less. Now, Cornflowers is less intense in color, and that is intentional and has nothing to do with the way it was painted. I simply felt I wanted a different light effect. One can love colors and their impact, and now and then balance it with less.

 

Keeping the luminosity of colors is important to me, as I've fallen in love with the glow of Monet's paintings.