My Paintings
Painting Editions On Canvas
When I was selling my work in the shows people would often ask if I could produce prints of my canvases so that they could afford a piece. That gave me an idea. I set out to actually paint editions, it would have been much too expensive to print these large pieces, so I did the unexpected. I figured out a way to paint almost alike canvases, a challenge to say the least. Here is a piece from an edition of ten.
— “Sweet Summer” — Canvas 30 inches x 40 inches —
I would prepare ten canvases and used a transparent drawing that I had made and copied it to each canvas. Then I mixed my paints and started painting areas the same way ten times. It was pretty difficult to do, but I succeeded. In the following photo you can see me working on them. The canvases are at different levels yet. In order to paint pieces like I have painted, the preliminary work is about three quarter of the time it takes to finish a piece.
The drawing and redrawing and redesigning is the part that takes longest. The painting itself is only the last of the work. The concept is developed into the minutest detail by then. Each curve is worked to be smooth, each negative and positive space is in harmony. So when I finally started to paint I did not have to worry about those things any longer. I was able to only concentrate on the colors. In this way I was able to bring down the cost for my customers to a level they were able to afford.
— “Painting Sweet Summer” —
Preparations Before Painting
For most paintings I did, I prepared all detail with a pencil drawing on tracing paper. When I had done the work to the final stage, I transfered the drawing to the prepared canvas. I made myself tracing sheets from thin paper that I had covered with a solid layer of pastels. Then I traced the drawing with lots of pressure onto the canvas. I put a glaze of thin acrylic paint over this tracing to protect it. Then the painting would begin.
The following samples of parts of final drawings remind me of how much time I spent always on the preparation of each painting. These particular samples are parts of the border for “Island Moon”, an edition of 7 hand painted canvases.
— Pencil drawings for Island Moon —
The borders on my pictures were always an important part of the images. I just love developing thesese intertwining elements, mostly taken from nature. Here is the painted result of the previously shown drawing. The border is of course part of “Island Moon”.
— Part of the Island Moon Border—
The Island Moon is another fantasy setting and a fantasy lady as well. I imagined this very self assured woman with the big cat by her side. The cat being a metaphore for the love in her life. The person who gives her the reflection of herself, the confirmation of who she is. I chose a wild cat because cats are so independent, beautiful, very much aware of themselves, capable. Besides, they purr.
— “Island Moon” — Canvas 48 inches x 60 inches —
I plan on painting canvases again in the future, but this time I want to capture the beauty that surrounds me. I understand myself very much now, so I do not need to paint about my aspects any longer. There was always a little bit of investigation and exploration involved, I needed to understand myself and express this understanding visually.
