The Sun

Gregory has begun painting with oils with Nancy Rosen as his teacher. More on this later but wanted to share an e-mail reply I helped him with to some questions asked by another painter friend Susan Wiseman. 

Susan, 

I appreciate your comments. When I paint, I sit quietly for a few minutes then start to try any shapes or movements that come to mind. I don't really have a "plan." Nancy, my teacher, sometimes puts out a tray of colors for me to consider. 

I just "play" with the shapes and colors as they arrive in my mind and on the canvas. Sometimes I make large gestures and other times I concentrate on small areas with small movements. The nice thing about using Oil Sticks, is that you just pick one up, refresh the tip, and draw. It is as if the stick is an extension of your hand. 

You can put thin or thick or in between lines on the canvas and then you use a rag or paper towel dipped in Turpenoid to blend, thin, spread ... or even erase what you have done. Oil Sticks are the same as oil paint only in stick form not in a tube and not applied necessarily with a brush (although you can use one if you want.) 

The "Sun" was my first on a larger paper (25x25.) Basically I "just did it." As it grew, one element led to the next. Just spontaneous progress based on what went before. One guide line is "NO WHITE SPACE TO BE LEFT BEHIND." I had this big empty space in the bottom right and after looking at it for a while, decided that based on the rest of what I had done, I wanted a big splash of "something" and decided on yellow. Then I "played" with adding the orange in a scribbled fashion. Funny having to think this through after having done it. Hope this helps. 

Gregory (with Michael's help)

"The Sun" Oil on gessoed Stonehenge paper. 25"x25" July 2010

YOU MIGHT WANT TO VISIT THESE SITES:
Nancy Rosen's Studio
Susan Wiseman's Paintings