“Morning on the San Juan” Golden Open acrylic on stretched canvas, 46cm x 38cm, 2009
“Jura Heights” Golden Open acrylic on stretched canvas, 30cm x 24cm, 2009
For the first part of this article, click here.
After a few days of this I felt confident enough to try a painting on canvas. Above is my first painting : “Morning on the San Juan”.
“A Golden Coast” Golden Open acrylic on 100% cotton paper, 22cm x 16cm, 2009
Golden’s new acrylic is not the only extended time acrylic out there. This technology is coming out of the US where there is evidently a very strong interest in acrylic as well as the new dye based watercolors (I must note that the later are fugitive paints). Quite frankly, I have had little interest in any of this. I have, however, for many years an interest in an alternative to painting with solvent for health reasons. From time to time I’ve picked up some acrylic and worked with them for a short period of time. I’ve never liked them much but Golden’s acrylics are the best I’ve tried.
After reading about them I’ve patiently waited for the new Golden Open Acrylics to arrive in France. After getting over the shock of how expensive they are for an acrylic I bought some this last week. As Golden says in their literature it is “A paint like no other”. They dry considerably slower than what we know as acrylics. Also, you can use those good brushes without fear that they will be damaged. These paints stay “open” or workable long enough to permit techniques impossible with normal acrylics. I found them relatively easy to work with over a 3 hour period. With an oil painting it would have taken much longer as I would have spent much time waiting for the paint to dry a little. This 3 hours time frame makes it potentially an ideal medium for alla prima plein air painting. (Note: I like to work fast with fresh paint rather than over work it.)
So, the image above was one of my first attempts to do something. I did a number of these small paintings on paper to get a feeling for how the different pigments work with each other. Anyone who grinds their own oil paints would appreciate the pigments integrity. Rather than following the current trend of homogenizing the various pigments so that they all work alike Golden allows each pigment to follow its natural characteristics. Here there is no shortcut: you need to mix paints together to see how they work. It is a good excuse to play with paint!
To be continued …
Published in french as Acrylique Golden Open : une nouvelle peinture
In my last post I attempted to give some ideas about painting in contrast to photography. Those thoughts directly apply to what I want to talk about here.
For many years my preparations before I pick up a brush have been the same for most of my paintings. Many painters used this approach. It is the “prepare like a turtle and paint like a rabbit” methodology. The time spent actually painting is brief in comparison to the non-painting time. This, of course, was the traditional way. When technology by way of the paint tube made direct plein air alla prima painting practical many painters followed that direction. Without going into details here, the point I want to make is this: I think that what was lost to a very a large degree was an appreciation of the value of mentally digesting the painting, and, most importantly, absorbing those primary sensations that initially sparked the interest.
I had much to ponder during my yearly walks on the Normandy beaches. For a long time, I’ve closely observed the fabric of our cultural life. So, needless to say, there was much new in that regard. But autumn has for many years been, for me, a period of personal introspection. I have hope that this year’s effort will prove to be insightful and bring some much needed wisdom. Recognition of this need seems to come with age. Hopefully. On the practical side there is the continual need to redefine the search. It seems the creative voice must forever become more clear.
Joyce deals deeply with several aspects of creativity in “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”.Henry Thoreau repeatedly writes “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.” The excess of details separates us from not only the world around us, but our personal understanding, and any creative efforts we subsequently make.
Back to the beach. This year, my difficulties with writing in general and the writing of this blog become more clear to me. For many years, I solved this problem of writing by simply not doing any. Problem solved. I had been determined to let my painting speak for me and I would keep my mouth shut. I sometimes wonder if I should not have continued to keep it shut. It was enough for me to have a few close friends with whom I could talk. Deeper, theoretical concerns have their own place and I long ago realized my limitations in adequately expressing them.