Revisiting acrylic painting: A familiar face in a new place
Once upon a time I woke up on a random Saturday morning and had a burning desire to paint. I headed over to Hobby Lobby, not knowing exactly what I would be buying, and I ended up leaving with a bag full of acrylic crafting paints. I instantly fell in love with the way that acrylic paints looked, the way that they felt when applying them to the canvas, the wide variety of colors, and most importantly the price! Years later I would grow as an artist and find myself completely immersed in the world of oil paints and completely in love with all of the processes associated with oil painting. Theres something undeniably fulfilling about using a palette knife to mix colors on a glass pallet and the sound that the knife makes as it scrapes across the surface is priceless. A few weeks ago while spending time with a group of artists we decided to share a canvas and commit to working on one piece with no real direction, no mission, just a collective stream of consciousness. All of these artists are talented and all are committed to the craft, and have that deeper spiritual connection to being creators. This mix of personalities, styles, and techniques led to the creation of a very beautiful and ever evolving piece of work that lit a fire under me to get back into acrylic painting. That same day, I would grab my kit and start to paint with acrylics. I didn’t think about it long and there was no real mission, I just went back to the basics of having fun with the paints. I sketched a rough image based on a familiar reference and started to layer paint on the canvas in very thin, and very runny patterns. These patterns started to take shape and I as I continued to layer the paint on the canvas something inside told me to stop but I could not, I just kept layering until an image started to appear that reminded me a lot of my oil paintings. I put this painting to the side and James Baldwin, whom I had put off painting in oils for nearly 6 months appeared on another canvas. In that same stream of artistic consciousness Mother Maya Angelou, who’s poetry had been on my mind all week, appeared on another canvas. These were not commissions, they were not experiments, nor were they for a specific show or project. These paintings were for me, and was a largely a part of my own mindfulness moment and it took me back to those days when I first started painting. #moments #artlife
James Baldwin, whom I had put off painting in oils for nearly 6 months appeared on another canvas.
“I did not think about it long and there was no real mission, I just went back to the basics of having fun with the paints.”
I just kept layering until an image started to appear…
These paintings were for me, and was a largely a part of my own mindfulness moment and it took me back to those days when I first started painting.
