"Dominion" (40x30 oil on panel) painting process

Greetings Steemians and Artists,

Over the years I've found that in order to sustain momentum in my practice, I need to force myself into a state of constant learning. It's what makes this creativity thing interesting. So I try to break things: my methods, preconceptions, subject matter. At the time of this painting, my thing was to have several paintings in progress at the same time, something I'd never done before. So, in the midst of some tighter and smaller paintings, I followed the voice of the muse and went big with lots of paint.

detail

The little 6x6 painting below from 2014 has stuck in my mind because of its simplicity and clarity. I decided to try a version of this theme again, but huge.

"The Grape" (6x6, 2014)

Below is a 40in x 30in panel. After the loose layout I started by literally squeezing paint from the tube directly on the panel, and spreading it around with a knife. So liberating.

See what I mean?:

(Alkyd-based oil paint this time. I use alkyds in around half of my paintings.)

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Below are the knives I used to make this painting. Much larger than the type of knife I normally use. A big Liquitex and a Holbein MX no. 11 (my normal knife is Holbein MX no. 1)

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And the shine while applying the varnish:

And the finished 40in x 30in painting, "Dominion" (oil on panel, 2016):

"Dominion" is currently available at Gallery 1261 in Denver, CO

Thanks for reading! -David

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