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Monday, October 3, 2011

The Letting Go..the real + the imagined...carousel

The Letting Go   oil/canvas   40 x 30 x 1.5
was painted fairly recently as a therapeutic work for myself....and vicariously for a friend.  The work was created from many photos taken click-click-click.....style on a beautiful spring morning in Boston.  The figure is a composite of two separate girls. The face is made up and played down to increase the power of the overall figure.  The arm is made up.  I modeled my own hand.  The horse is a composite of real and imagined.   The interior of the carousel's roof  was flattened into a 2-dimensional pattern.  I was concerned with the overall lightness of the bottom of the canvas.  I was advised at a recent critique to leave it alone and consider the work finished.  Terrific.  Using a design-centered approach can leave one up in the air as far as a cemented finish as there are always patterns that can be enhanced.  OK.  Wonderful.  There was also a comment regarding the lack of sheen on the painted surface.  Up until now, I have used a 5:1:1 medium mix of turpentine: stand oil: damar varnish.  I may experiment with a 50:50 mix of turpentine:stand oil.

Learn.  Re-learn.  Keep moving.