making a painting - (part 1)

I’ve seen other artists writing about the various processes they go through to make a painting and then showing the finished piece for sale.
I’ve always found it quite interesting so thought I would give it a go and show you here just what it is I do.

There will be a few blow-by-blow posts with images to illustrate the development of the work as I go along.
By the end of this week you will see it complete and then have the opportunity to buy it if you wish.

Ready to begin then…
...take a wooden panel
...edges covered in tape to keep them clean
...three or four layers of sanded gesso to provide a smooth surface.
Nothing much to see so far then...

But the title is decided already - “happed in sky” - so now I can set up my palette and how I love setting up my palette!
The joy of choosing which colours of oil paint to squeeze silkily out of tubes onto the glass is huge and significant.
There will nearly always be Indigo, Payne’s grey, Terre Verte, Indian Yellow, Dioxazine Purple and Zinc White and this time I add in Phthalocyanine Blue Lake and Turquoise, their names like some exotic incantation...


Equal amounts of cold wax medium are added and mixed with the near edible colours.
A chance to get lost in the process and that rhythm is so good.

Squeegee into Indigo and I spread it like softened butter across the surface.
Then a layer of glorious Indian Yellow to follow and then more.
The underpainting lends grand depth to the painting and over time I will work into it, revealing the innards and texturing the painting’s surface.



All the time I am making work, I focus on my title and on what I am trying to express.

“happed in sky” is begun.