Friday 28 February 2014

Observation # 13 -follow up to #11

                         If I am to keep things in order this is # 13 but it should be numbered 11.1                                                                           It is the last day of February-the cold persists...
          If anyone remembers, I claimed that there was one major aspect of that first barn painting in Owen               Sound that I  thought was 'off' ...well there were probably more 'off' parts than that...but never mind....
                                Here are the before and after photos showing the change(s) I made
this is the way it was the last time it was seen-the fence seemed too white 
a pure stark white probably looks OK on the screen bit trust me 'in person' it was too white
(sorry these photos should have been taken under the same conditions...alas...)and this painting IS better in person- aren't we all!
        ........... so about an hour ago I dug out the mars black, Payne's grey, titanium white and burnt umber
          and proceeded to  reduce the intensity of the white -to almost a middle value grey in some places.
I had to use pure undiluted paint  because of the rule "Fat over Lean'   which refers to the necessity of never putting a lean or diluted paint over a thick heavy application of paint-----could cause cracking  down the road......Now, if this had been done in Acrylic it would have been much more simple just to put a light wash over the too light parts
                      This little experiment is now over. I'm not sure if I'll continue with oil or not-I appreciate all the  qualities about Oil paint that in many ways make it superior to acrylic. If I do another I'll try  cotton                                                           canvas-a much more flexible surface.
                       One of those superior qualities of Oil is that nice luscious texture one can get.
            If you ever get a chance to see an original A.J.Casson,1898-1992- one of the Group of Seven, check out his textures. His work is much more 'labored' than Thomson's. Remembering the surface of a               Thomson sketch in oil on an 8 X 10 makes me think my own brush handling in this barn is not very                                                                                 thoughtful.
I might never get a chance to 'name -drop" Casson's name again so- what the heck : I met him in 1970 in the     St Thomas Art Gallery  he was one of the jurors and told me the night of the opening he liked my work. 
            (I was 23 he was 72, he was a kind fellow). I met A.Y. Jackson about 1968 in Kleinburg
at the McMichael Collection. It was a chilly but sunny day and he was sitting outside wrapped in a blanket                       He had a stroke a  sometime earlier- but was smiling and saying brief hellos. 
     Every now and then I drop out to the Leith Cemetery and have a chat with the guy who inspired them             both- Tom Thomson....I imagine Tom to be there even though he's probably up near Canoe Lake in
                                                            Algonquin Park
              The last photo here was taken with a strong raking sunlight-showing the brush work
              -next step- in 6 months-apply a final varnish.-I haven't done that in a long time
                                                                   -farewell



2 comments:

  1. mr. Dalton sir! STILL NO LETTER. Don'tcha love your dance partner anymore?

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  2. I like the close up as the grey color appears more true than in the smaller images where it appears blue.
    I also like seeing the texture, which always reminds me that I regret covering your hollyhocks with glass so I cannot feel those textures.

    Your NC friend

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