Nap time....

A working title for this little piece, but one that just may stick.  When the ornamental cherry tree outside went dormant this winter a few of the dead leaves clung to it, refusing to drop.  Their orange / brown colour providing some nice contrast against the sky.  A good subject for trying out another palette knife painting.  Now if only the visiting chickadees and juncos didn't move so fast ... I'd like to use one of them as the next painting subject.

A bit of a change...

Recently, a few changes in my life have left me with less time to paint.  I like to paint slow, coming back to the work over and over again, often while it is still wet and workable (something I love about working with oils).  With my slow style and new time constraints I'll be lucky to get anything accomplished!  I decided that I needed to change things up and encourage myself to work faster in the process.  I chose to use a small canvas, a palette knife and acrylic paint.  By using acrylic I don't have the luxury of putting the work aside and coming back hours later to a still wet painting and therefore have to work faster.  Using the palette knife forces me away from getting bogged down in fine detail and the amount of time that can take up.  The small canvas gives me a chance at completing a piece in one go.  My first attempt at this, shown here, seems to have gone alright.