Work In Progress: 36 Things: Paint a VERY LARGE Canvas

When we went to the UK and France a couple years back, I spent a lot of time visiting museums. The Picasso Museum in Paris was one of my favorites along with the Pompidou Center (also in Paris)l. One thing I kept noticing was how large so many of the paintings on display were. Did you have to create giant paintings to get noticed and shown? Apparently so.

When we came home, I was determined to paint a large painting. I even went out and bought a large canvas. OK, it's not gigantic, but it is 4 feet tall by 5 feet wide, plenty big.

This large canvas, however, languished in my studio for the last year. To add incentive for myself, I added "Paint a VERY LARGE canvas" to my list of 36 Things To Do Before Turning 37.

I am having a show in June and realized I really, really, want to finish my VERY LARGE canvas for this show. But with a twist, because I am going to document my process. Sometimes you paint and paint and paint and the finished product looks nothing like what you started with.

I have been thinking about this painting for the last couple months and I do have a vision of what I want to do. We'll see how close it comes out to my original thought. The photo above is the painting after the first session in my studio.

I started by spray painting the background and then painted on the Raven in acrylic. Next, I started working in these dots, which I made by printing with the end of a wine cork. I plan on working on it everyday this week and will take more photos as I move along.