"Man On A Mission"

“Man On A Mission” 8x10 oil painting on canvas board

I had an email from my mentor recently. “You need to do some one hour paintings! Use big brushes and heavy paint”.

I must admit that this assignment was thoroughly intimidating because I’m a very slow, careful painter, but I knew it would be an excellent exercise to “loosen me up”. For my first attempt, I chose a foal photo, but decided that it was too complex an image for my first one hour painting. So, I found this simple photo of Spinner, a Jack Russell Terrier who belongs to a friend and sometimes riding instructor.

Yesterday I forced myself into the studio, and this was the result. I used a #12 bristle flat to apply a tone to the canvas and then used #8 synthetic flats to draw and paint the dog and the background. I cheated a little by using a round bristle for some of the small details, but that was it. I managed to do the dog in one hour but then spent another hour applying the background and fussing over the dog. I probably could easily have stretched the time into another 2-3 hours to refine everything but resisted the urge and put down the brushes.

I’m supposed to do a couple of these per week and already have a German Shepherd picked out to do next. It’s quite a departure from my usual cautious and detailed style and requires real discipline to resist the urge to pick, pick, pick at the painting. Now I’m looking forward to doing the next one.

I don’t think I’m in any danger of becoming a “loose woman”, but you never know.