Going tiny

I just wrote about I have to take a break from the fiddly work resulting from painting all those small details in my endless, circular river picture. And I have started a new picture, from where I grew up. A sea house, after a photo I took one winter night.

Now, I also have another project in mind, which isn’t a painting project, but one which includes the shaping of clay. Yeah, I want to make a clay figure. Some time. A figure that is painting, so I figured, I need a small canvas and easel. I could make it in clay, of course, but … I bought it instead.

My new canvas and easel. And the brushes too.

Of course, such a small canvas requires painting small details. Which is fiddly work, right?

Right!

Good thing I’m taking a break from doing the fiddly work then. Except … well, it’s just such a tiny little canvas, it can’t take that much time to paint it. So I did. I spent quite a while to figure out what to paint, but ended up painting a miniature of the one I’m currently painting on a large canvas, just in summertime.

Sea house in summertime

It was a fun, little project. Sure, I could spend more time on it and get the details even better, but this was more for fun than anything else. Besides, I can buy more of those canvases without ruining myself, and the paint expenses should be manageable, too.

And I will!

Summertime …

I have a confession to make: I have painted very little this summer. It’s not that there haven’t been enough opportunities for me, as the weather has been on the “stay inside and paint”-side a lot of the time. My concentration has been elsewhere, tho.

Part of the reason might be the “impossible” motive I’m working on, purely from my own imagination. I’ve done a few changes, have some more to add (or it would look very empty), and … well, still need to think a bit about how and where to add stuff. To make it look like a rather simplistic version of reality. It would, of course, be cool if I could make it look realistic, but I need to paint a lot more to become better for that to happen. Maybe revisit it as a project later?

But, while I painted very little, I did paint. A little. The front and back cover of a sketchbook, again.

While the ideas for motives had roamed around among my thoughts for a while, when I sat down to paint it was done quickly. For me. A few hours, despite it not being the largest canvases to paint on.

Still simple, not too many details (small details on a small canvas can become too small) but I’m quite happy with the result. And just as important: I painted!

And in a couple of weeks, I’m back to painting classes.