Water Lilies Painting

I can only fit so much into the back of my Volvo. So I decided to paint on two canvases instead of one. Each canvas measures 30x40, so together it measures 60x40. The challenge here was to make sure that each canvas could stand on its own and then make the images work together. I moved them around quite a bit to finish all of the edges and to link them in color and shape. There are a ton of water lilies in Brackenridge Park which is not far from where we live. It's a lovely tree shaded place where there are birds and walking paths and lovely old oaks. The cool shade the trees provide is a welcome respite from the San Antonio heat. Yes, I'm still into doing water images, and yes I know that lilies have been done many times before. I was telling a friend about the intimidating task of painting lilies and that my fear was that it was a bit trite. She simply said, no one paints as you, so go for it!  These are painted in acrylics and it was a good thing because I had them on the floor, on the table and on the easel and the quick drying time make this so much easier.

Advantages of Switching Between Acrylics and Oils

I know that I have groused and grumbled repeatedly about acrylic paints and how difficult they can be to manage. But these "Water Paintings" I have been working on have forced me to make peace with them. Both mediums are so different from one another, yet still so similar that one would think of them as siblings from the same family, only raised far away from one another. I think of acrylics as sort of the west coast relative...progressive and edgy and still not quite polished.  While oils are from some English city; refined and dignified and a bit snotty. But both are unique and have characteristics that allow me to choose which is best for whatever my subject matter is to be. These water paintings are best in acrylic because they can have a transparency that shows subtlety under and on top of the water that I think is much more difficult to express in oil. I also think of acrylics as "cooler" and lacking in the warmth and richness of oils. The biggest difference of all is the drying time, which can be painfully long with oils and wonderfully short with acrylics.
I can cover great amounts of the canvas in a relatively short time with acrylics as the paint goes down quickly and I work quickly as well in order to avoid too much paint drying on my palette. I mix my palette carefully with oils and know that my paint can sit there all day as I work it into the canvas. Mixing with acrylics is a whole other matter...I seldom mix on the canvas as it almost always dries too quickly and the results are not always predictable. Mixing on the canvas in oils allows for subtle shading and smaller detail that I simply haven't figured out how to do in acrylics yet.
I have learned from each of these mediums and think more about underpainting and layering as a result of working with acrylics. I have brought to acrylics my experience in mixing colors from oils and know that what is often a gentle shift or change in color or shade is still perceived by the mind and can often make or break a painting.
This painting is called Only a Motion, is acrylic, and is 36x36. I took a photo to work from while in Sonoma, CA, recently and the reflection of the red flower intrigued me the most.

Abstraction Already Evident

I just finished this acrylic painting the other day. It looks fairly abstract and I toyed with making it more so, but decided on letting it be the "water" that it was. Perhaps in painting a few more of these water studies, I will let it become more and more abstracted once I understand how water works a little better. I find that I am drawn to things "untouchable" and ethereal  like clouds, smoke, water, shadows and reflections. The mere challenge of trying to hold on to something so slippery and to freeze it time somehow is where I always seem to end up. Maybe that's why dusk is my most favorite time of day. It truly lasts only for minutes... and then it moves into evening, then night. This took longer than I thought that it would and thankfully, I chose to paint it in acrylic, otherwise it would have taken forever to dry.