IDEAL

Diane Mannion, IDEAL, 3.5x2.5" oil on linen

Snippet Series #24

      An ideal day for me is painting all day... outside.  A close second is painting in the studio!   Doesn't always work out that way, but any hour or two snatched from a busy day to push paint around is pure joy.

      Have been experimenting a lot with these little bottle paintings.  Actually followed a suggestion by CW Mundy (see previous post) who mentioned painting upside-down from a photo.  No, I didn't stand on my head, but had both the canvas and the computer image I was painting from upside-down.  I didn't look at it right side up until I was almost finished.  Discovered I had painted the mirror image of the lettering, which I wiped and repainted.  A fun experiment forcing the brain to see shapes instead of the object, a right left brain sort of thing.  I've often used this technique to correct portrait studies, but never while doing a painting right from the start.

      Sometimes, it's not what you paint but how and for me right now, these Snippets are perfect for pushing technique without the investment of time and energy, not to mention the intimidation of a larger canvas.  I'm attempting to work more color and energy into my realistic studies, working with values and warm and cool colors.  Tiny paintings are an ideal way to discover what happens when "painting outside the lines."  There's a world of possibilities in a tiny, nutshell of space.