Overworking! Try Alla Prima.

Are you tired of reworking a painting - over and over - correcting shapes, adding lights, adding darks, fixing colors - only to find that you have overworked the painting again, destroyed the colors and values, and are so frustrated that you might as well wipe it off or throw it in the trash! All that wasted time, effort and paint!

We've all been there -myself included!

So let's try direct painting and see if that works better. Direct painting or Alla Prima is the technique of painting one area correctly and completely before moving on to a new area, always completing each new area before progressing across the canvas. These correctly completed areas provide a reference point for judging each new area. As you slowly work across the canvas you are painting the finished painting. You can choose to begin at the focal point or in the far distance/sky area. 

When the painting is completed, set it aside to dry a bit. There may be small bits and pieces to add, but if done correctly, there should be no major changes needed. And since no area has been overpainted or fiddled with, your colors and values should be clean and crisp.

Direct painting is in obvious contrast to painting in stages, where each area is first painted in its general mass tone and the entire painting is worked to completion with each adjustment hopefully leading to a correct ending. But each adjustment changes the dynamics of the entire painting. Every half completed area is altered by the next step. There is no clear reference point for comparison - and that's where the problems may arise.

Of course, all paintings, no matter the technique, need to be carefully planned out beforehand, the composition worked out in thumbnail sketches and then sketched onto the canvas. 

It's something to think about.

Now for July news - Our Virtual Hike Painting Group is visiting South Dakota this month. I hope to complete two paintings.

Last month our destination was Japan, but it was a busy month and I couldn't find any extra time to explore and paint. I had a few commissions to complete and time just got away from me.

Our Maine July so far has fluctuated with daytime temps of 61° to 96°. It's 68° now at 5PM, gray, cool and damp. 

Well, time for supper. Happy painting!

Celene

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