Work in progress, an oil painting.
October 2024 Painting Letter
Hello there,
Some months ago I started what is the biggest painting I have worked on. It is a scene that portrait a child and her grandmother wearing traditional folklore clothes. I am working with oil painting on canvas 120 x 90 cm. I wanted to share with you some details and thoughts:
I am working from an old photograph as a reference. This painting started with an acrylic painting on my bigger sketchbook, that served me later to have an idea of the possible composition and color. Once I saw the result, I thought that I could do this with oils on canvas. I don’t prepare my paintings that many but sometimes I need to rework an image more than once if I am interested in. And most of the times it happens that a bigger painting comes after doing a sketch in my sketchbook.
In this video you can watch the process of this acrylic painting on my bigger sketchbook.
So once I did this acrylic painting in my sketchbook, I went to the art supplies store and bought a big canvas in order to start the oil painting. I don’t use the grid method on my painting support and I don’t do a very elaborate drawing. I rather prefer to start painting right away. This has some consequences in the technical process, but I can handle this fact and I prefer to solve the possible technical issues of composition/drawing as I go. I enjoy leaving some space for freedom in brushstrokes, and I also care about the fact that I don’t really have to follow the spaces between the already drawn borders. In my mind, I do the work of composing a picture and mathematically dividing the space that I have at my disposal. I have trust in the painting skills that I have developed over time, and I am happy to learn new ones in the process. I have to make sure that this painting process is something enjoyable. Of course, there can be mistakes in composition/proportions, but I need to go on and keep painting even if this happens. Keep painting. This is, of course, my own experience with painting. And this may vary in the future if I need to.
So this is a painting in progress.
You can watch a video of me painting some parts of this painting on my Youtube channel.
These past weeks I’ve been filming some process of this work in progress for my Youtube channel, and I am working on the editing these days. Meanwhile, you can enjoy my latest video and subscribe if you haven’t already :) I would like to thank everyone who joined my youtube channel recently and left a like or comment. I felt very grateful for that and I am happy that you enjoyed my work.
COMMISSIONED PAINTINGS
I am taking painting commissions both in acrylics and oils. I can also work on a drawing project if this is something you would like to. I am working on setting up my online store with some updates on the products. In the meantime, you can email me and I will be happy to send you more info about pricing and process.
Thank you for taking your time for reading this painting letter,
See you next month,
Elena.