The Painting Process for My Latest Series

Currently, I'm working on a painting series inspired by dreamlike imagination. I've been using this series as a way to play around with my paintings and explore my creativity rather than work on technical painting skills. For me, this means less focus on painting realistically or even with a more painterly style, and instead focus more on the "vibe" or aesthetic nature needed for each painting to properly convey their theme.

Step One

Before I even begin painting, I start with a general idea of what I want the painting to look like or be about. This can involve sketching out different ideas or looking for inspiration through reference images. For past projects, I normally spend a long time on this part of the process so that I can make sure my paintings will be true to life and accurate, however, for this particular series, I've decided to take a vague idea and maybe a general sketch and go straight to work on the canvas.

Step Two

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(please ignore the little sunspots on the first canvas)

To start, I prep the canvases by coating them in two layers of gesso to reduce the texture from the canvas as well as strengthen the surface. I then go in with a wash of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna mixed with water to tone the canvas and give it a warm hue. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if this has any effect on the finished painting, but in my mind it does, so I do it. I then take some of the leftover wash and add a little bit more paint so that it is less watery, and loosely "sketch" out the layout and subject of my painting with a large to medium sized paintbrush. This helps me have a guide to follow when I paint, but it's still loose enough for adjustments later.

Step Three

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Next, I map out which colors I want to use and where I want them to go. This is definitely the "ugly" stage of the process as I basically scribble paint onto the canvas, less concerned with covering the canvas and more concerned with color placement. For this series, I've been using quite a bit of slow-dry medium added to my paint which thins it out and allows me to spread it around and really blend it into the canvas. Some of this technique was inspired by the fact that I tend to never mix enough paint to cover the areas I need, and then resort to spreading it over as much space as possible to avoid having to remix a specific color. One might call this laziness or poor planning, but I like to call it creative ingenuity.

Step Four

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Working toward the finished painting, I start in the background, and then finish with the main subject. To create a softer look to these paintings, I don't use any colors straight from the tubes, and instead mix all my own so that they have the exact hues I want. I also add a bit of Unbleached Titanium paint to all my colors to diminish their vibrancy, and lighten them while keeping a warmer tone. Again, at this stage I mix all my paint with almost equal parts slow-dry medium, and spread and blend the paint around with both a paintbrush and my fingers. Since these paintings are supposed to be dreamlike, I try not to get too focused on small details, and try to keep my colors rather light and hazy.

While I normally put more technical skills and attention to detail into my paintings, I have enjoyed the creative freedom of not having a strict plan, as well as using a more relaxed painting technique to create this ongoing series. My challenge for these to make sure I stick to the same process and technique for each one and not end up putting too much detail into them.