Going Small

Springtime Meadow

5 x 7" acrylic on canvasboard (work in progress)

I've been working on a series of small paintings which is something I haven't done for a long time. It's an entirely different experience to work small. In some ways it's easier, and you might think it would go faster, but it really doesn't happen that way. It's easier because I can manipulate or turn the canvas, which helps when working so small. It's harder, because every stroke is important, and also highly visible. Note the flowers, for example, in this painting. They were done with a very small brush, yet they are quite large in proportion to the overall painting. I have to go back in and repaint those areas and only suggest the spring flowers instead of letting them remain so bold.

The camera plays tricks, too. The colors are not quite accurate. The green of the meadow behind the fence is too yellow in this photo compared to the actual painting, where the meadow is a muted green. It's one of the frustrations of photographing artwork. Is it my camera? or the lighting in the studio where I took the picture? Even "fixing" the photo with a painting program doesn't quite fix it to portray the colors of the original.

Another challenge is calibrating the computer monitor. What I see on the monitor is not accurate to the original. For instance, in the foreground of winter scene below, the blues in the painting are actually considerably darker with a very slight turquoise tinge. And what prints is not the same as what is on the monitor. So if I want to write a brochure, or send a print to someone, it doesn't capture the true colors either. Is it the monitor, or is it the printer???

Sometimes I think all the technical stuff gets so frustrating that it detracts from the joy of making the art itself. But then, I tell myself, just consider it exercise for the brain!!