I'm working on a giant, gallery wrap (well, it's only 18x24, but it's larger than my usual). I want to contrast the way an open nebula looks in space with this idea of darkness, but so far it's going in a more symbolist direction than I expected.

This is the progression of a previous WIP that I think is doing quite well. It still has a Monet-y vibe to me, but it's coming along nicely.

I'm trying to generate a new set of paintings and to have the groundwork in place by next week so that they can dry while I'm at AWP16. I've spent a lot of time lately working on freelancing and writing, and just being too tired at the end of the day to make art. (I don't like to paint before dinnertime, because I often make dinner, and my hands get icky with oil paint residue and lye soap).

​No more excuses!

I wrote last week about a work in progress for a friend that's modeled after her painting, Memoria. I finished this painting this week and titled it 'Sunlit Depths.' Whereas I saw Memoria as an abstract depiction of a melding between light and dark, or the point at which memory fades into nothingness, I see this piece as an abstraction of the way that the sun touches plants, or the way that some things lie below sunlight.

The acrylic details I added differ slightly from Memoria's as well. Memoria has a silver sheen that enhances the action of the dark meeting the light paint. This painting used acrylics to round out and brighten the 'bubbles' that are in the left-hand top corner, mimic the pink streaks on the right-hand side, and add depth to the dark paint at the bottom left. The acrylics wrap around to the sides, as does the oil paint. They're very hard to capture on camera, but in physical view, they catch the light and draw the eye to the correct places.

I'm quite happy with this one, so I'm thinking about painting an even larger piece in a similar style.