In May of 2002 Mary and I went to London and stayed near Green Park. I had recently finished a painting of some chairs by the pool at Rancho La Puerta. We came into the park from St James Place and they had the lawn chairs out. You can rent them by the hour. It was a pretty cloudy day, but Mary suggested it might make a good subject for a painting. Not bad idea, methought. So I took this picture (click to enlarge).
Later that year I got a 48" x 48" prestretched canvas and laid it out. I then did some underpainting and now it looks like this:
For a while now I have been laying out underpainting in bright, sometimes complimentary colors (I am working on a mackerel piece that I will post later as another example). I find that this can led to some really interesting effects as you come in with other colors. Depending on the hue, saturation, transparency, and value, you can get everything from beautiful muted colors (mutations?) to vibrant contrasts that really pull colors in and out of the eye. Of course, you can always get mud.
This one has been sitting around in the garage for a couple of years, so I am getting back into this piece slowly. I will let you know how this one goes and try to update this blog as we progress. Happy to hear any suggestions as well.
Dead Finks Don't Talk, Brian Eno
