Do you paint over your art?
Today I wanted to talk a little bit about my process with acrylic abstract paintings. Let’s take a look at a painting that I completed on February 1, 2022, entitled “Anytime”:
“Anytime” by Julie Prichard. This is the original version of the painting.
When I completed this painting, the only area I had to store it was in the corner of my bedroom. Most paintings get wrapped and placed in a closet, but my closet was full, so this piece hung for 7 months where I had the opportunity to look at it daily.
The composition of the painting started to weigh on me and there were a couple of areas that I wanted to change. I feel like I could do better on the upper left side as well as the middle right.
The “old Julie” would have struggled to match the palette and would have ended up covering way too much in the adjustment phase.. luckily, the “New Julie” had a record of her color mixes in her journal that she could refer to!
I posted this reel a little while ago and received some criticism. Critics mentioned that this process would bring their creative flow to a halt; That it would slow them down and that it would make them think too hard.. during their “flow”. What I think a lot of people did not realize is that I prepare the color sheet BEFORE the “flow”. I think of a color scheme, mix the harmonious palette (as shown in my “Expanding on Color” online workshop) and then paint organically. No disruption whatsoever. Why before? It saves me from wasting time and wasting paint.. how often in your “flow” have you picked up a color and put it down only to realize it is a bad choice?
The revised painting. “Anytime”, by artist Julie Prichard. Please tap the image to purchase.
The pages I recorded for this painting where huge. There is no way that I would have been able to remember the mixes from 7 months ago. Thankfully, with everything recorded, I was able to create exact color matches and make the changes that I wanted without loosing the original feel of the painting. Can you spot the changes that I made?
I am being completely honest here: The process that I am doing is saving me so much time and money with wasted paint, indecisiveness and general color picking mistakes. What would have taken me hours and days to match and complete, I finished in a couple of hours. I am so much happier with the new version “Anytime” and feel that it suits me much better than before.
“Anytime”, September 2022. Tap the image for more info.