Original Oil Painting, Time To Loosen Up

Hello Everyone,

Here is a new original oil painting I just completed last week.

This is a small 6” X 8” painting I just finished a few days ago. With the style in which I paint, I sometimes get into a rut of too many details in my paintings. Basically over working the composition. Now, I have been painting for a long time now, so I do see the signs as they occur.

A few years ago, I learned that whenever I start to feel myself tightening up on my compositions, I need to get back into the habit of loosening up my approach. I found, for me, the best way is to paint with a pallet knife.

The painting pictured here is a pallet knife only painting. I do not do this type of work often, but when I do, it really helps me relax and attack my work in a loose and relaxed way so my work does not look stale.

I have nothing against pallet knife only paintings. As a matter of fact, some artists create unbelievable works with a knife only. For me, I just never got the urge to use it exclusively. I use the knife to help me in my brush work.

You see, when you use a pallet knife to lay down color, you use one pass with the knife only, ok, possibly a second pass of color, but no more. When you use a brush, it should be similar. Too many passes of color with a brush make the painting look over worked and deliberate instead of spontaneous and free.

Some hyper realistic artists may do that intentionally, but that is not my style.

So there you have it. A little trick I use to hopefully keep my work fresh and spontaneous.

Have A Blessed Day My Friends