This week I got the bug to work on a contemporary piece, a quadtych (4 panel) tree-scape, "Extensions". Sometimes when I'm planning a multi canvas painting, I will run down into my basement and grab a bunch of assorted sized canvases and just begin by arranging them in all different configurations on my studio floor. I play around with the layout until I think I've got something that pleases me , as I try to keep in mind the design that I want to create as well being that has a great deal to do with the sizes of the canvas and the layout I have chosen.
This piece has a very abstract background of different slashing shapes (((( and ))))) . Many times with my paintings I work with very wet surfaces and watery paints so I must lay the canvases out flat. With this piece the varying background colors and shapes were done very wet, while the foreground tree branch was done in a dark, bold...thick black acrylic paint.
The end result was exactly what I had in mind for this painting when I started it, contemporary, colorful and abstract. All artists have a varied and unique process for their creations and for me, when I'm doing a multi-canvas painting, I like to play around and arrange things and then experiment with color to determine what the base of my painting will be built on.
