Reworked Oil Painting

 

Time After Time, Oil, 18 x 18 inches
©2021 Barbara Benedetti Newton

I am frugal with some things, oil paint is one of them. Looking back, some of my paintings show that frugality. Not a good look. 

I have given myself an attitude adjustment based on two things:

1. My age. I have many tubes of oil paint. If I continue to be frugal about how much I use, they will outlive me. I want to use them up.

2. The addition of cold wax medium instead of my usual liquid medium adds body and volume to my paint and gives my work a more generous look.

Above is the recent rework of a 2014 painting. The original work is shown below. 

Painting the Studio Garden, Post 1

These days, while self-isolating, I've been spending mornings in the studio and afternoons in the gardens (flower and vegetable).

I've been painting small since last November so it feels good to bust out and paint 24x24. That's the short story.

Here is the maybe more than you want to know backstory.
Exactly two years ago I was painting flowers. See the very light Percy Wiseman rhododendron out the window? I was painting that. On this 24x24 inch wood panel. It was going well - until it wasn't. At some point I made the decision to ask Jay to sand the whole thing off. I think it was something about starting with a smaller vase (you can see it in the sanded photo) then reworking that, then something about the background temperature.

Looking back at it now, I think I was hasty. But I am happy to turn the panel into this studio garden painting.

Studio Garden, day 1 The Block-In

Studio Garden, day 2 Double Check Composition

Studio Garden, day 3 Working the Middle Ground

a saturday spray

A warm Saturday morning and a good day to wash off another old pastel painting so I can begin again on the same Wallis paper. This one is 19 x 25 inches. In this photo, I'm blasting it with water from the garden hose and because it is a sunny day, I'll leave it here to drip dry.