Style Observations, Variations and Arriving in the Middle

WIP
The Swimmers Series
Encaustic on 4 12x24 Birch Panels
 

The joy of being an Artist is when we go off on a tangent and paint several of something - its a series.  I've been working on these 4 this week.  They are actually 4 separate paintings.  Its been an interesting process to work up four similar paintings together.  I've never done this before.  I have lots of open paintings in various stages in my studio (seven to be exact), but I've not worked four of the same before in variation.  I decided to give it a try based on some of the comments from last week, where my fellow PPFrs, actually do work up variations of one subject.
 
What's been interesting is how these swimmers have morphed.  The boy on the left was the first one.  He is fresh, kinda rustic and not overworked... at all.  They've been worked simultaneously and all started out looking kinda  like him.  The next girl until about an hour ago, had a similar look to her friend on the left.  Then she morphed and skewed away from that style crossed over to be more like the others.  The next girl, she has had 5 different faces and two different bodies.  I had a body that I liked, but after the first face went awry, I couldn't get a replacement face to work.  I learned that face and body are a unit.  Either they work as a whole together or I need to start over in total not in parts.  What's interesting is that she has looked like the same girl in the face every time.  I guess she wanted to show up regardless of what body she was on. 

The boy on the far right had gotten a bit overworked in the face, but his hands are still at a good stage... so, what to do - based on the learning's of the girl to his left, do I keep working the face and risk overworking it or do I start all over again?  Needless to say... he is sitting for the moment, while I decide what to do.  I'm actually a salvager, so I'm sure I'll take at least one more run at him to keep those hands.  My favorite is the boy on the far left and I've been reluctant to work on him at all and just leaving him as he originally showed up.   He is actually based on the style of a German artist. 

This has been such an interesting lesson in style and how it seems I want or need to paint.  The more I try to duplicate the style of the one on the left - the more they end up away from that and settling into, I guess where they should be.  They are teaching me that my style and voice show through.  And no matter if I try to paint in someone else's style, my own style is going to find a way to override.  I used to find this kind of frustrating.  I haven't been a fan of this style I have.  But, the more I paint, the more the style is refining and becoming something I do like. I have to thank Flora Bowley for helping to free up my thinking.  Finally, I'm at the point where  I am embracing my style rather than fighting it.  It's taken a while, I don't know if any of you have found this to be true on your artful journey.

This foursome isn't meant to be too realistic, because for me that adds too much pressure and a load of expectations.  So here they are... in the middle.  They still need some work to be finished up.  I need to figure out the bodies.  So more work, more discovery, more learning.   Happy Friday! 

Commitments, Style and Inspiration

Style Statement
encaustic on birch 10x10

Way back in March,  I committed to doing a painting for an upcoming raffle.  The raffle is just a couple of weeks away and I decided that I needed to get on it, after all, I had committed a painting.  There's still a little tidy up work to do on this pair, but for the most part they are done.  I've been wanting to experiemnt with incorporating the style of one of my favorite artists - Wayne Thiebaud.  He often uses a plain off white background and that awesome blue for shadows.
I'm actually glad that I waited to do this because I have used some of the techniques that I have been playing with over the past week or so.  The background is done with tinted off-white shellac over the off-white background.  I just painted it on leaving lots of brush strokes horizontally.  I wanted kind of a striated line.  Its a shame that encaustics don't photo better because the background, while subtle, is pretty good.  I did start with a bright orange layer, then the off white, then the shellac, then clear wax to get what I was looking for.  I also used the exacto knife and black oil paint for outlining, like in the zentangles from last week.  I did have to tighten up a bit as all the play was really wigging out my inner critic, who has been howling with all this playtime.  I've delegated her to take a seat in the back of the bus with fear and doubt.   The three of them can keep each other company in the back seat, while I do the driving. 

I am still working on playing in the studio.  I've also been digging into books for inspiration.  In keeping with my thoughts on loosening up and stretching my wings to try new things... I signed up for an online painting class with Flora Bowley called Bloom True.  Its going to be a stretch for me, a biiiiiiiiiiiggggg stretch,  but in a good way I think.  I'm deciding whether to try it in wax or actually go for it with acrylic paints.  I have time to mull that over as class doesn't start until September 3.
Its Friday.  Its Party Time.