First acrylic sketch I did after getting back from Sydney, entitled 'Red Shorts Yellow Sky'
I’ve been painting every morning. Jimmy or Kurt call to see if I’m going to come surfing with them, and I have to say, “No, this morning I have to paint!” I do manage to surf some afternoons. But painting has to come first. Especially in the morning hours, because that’s when I’m freshest and most in command of all my faculties, and painting, more than almost anything else I do, requires COMPLETE focus.
Because I’m just starting to paint again after some time off, I’m doing warm-ups. These are acrylic “sketches” on fairly lightweight paper. I like painting on paper. For one thing I like the lack of texture—the smooth surface—but I also like the fact that because it’s not on canvas, I can take it less seriously and be more free, bold and spontaneous. I know it’s just a mind trip but it works for me.
Acrylic sketch on paper, done with limited palette, entitled 'Shawn Standing Nude on Beach'
I’ve been painting with a limited palette on these acrylic sketches. For instance, on the one I did today (a frontal nude of Shawn standing in wet sand at the beach), I limited my palette to four colors and white: cadmium red, cadmium yellow, cobalt blue, and ultramarine blue. And I’m really pleased with the results—I think I successfully captured the light conditions of the scene, and thus the feeling of it.
I want to keep experimenting with a limited palette. It’s a nice challenge, plus with fewer colors you can be more sure the whole thing will hang together color-balance-wise. (And it doesn’t take 2 hours to mix all the colors before you get to start painting!)
