BIG

     I am being haunted by the image of a doing a certain painting....I'm going to have to go through the motions of activity to get it going though.....First, it's big.  I want to do it as a 4' by 5' horizontal and it's a group of young adults.....Lots of figures and faces and I'll have to do it as realistically as I can.  There's no sunlight, it's inside and there's no garden! which is a switch up for me and frankly not that much color which is also different for me.  Most of the responses I get to my paintings are about the color and the subject and I'm deviating from both......I'm going to do it though.  It's also a personal painting....
     Today I stretch the canvas.  I buy my canvas from Dick Blick on a roll and I had the stretcher bars built already by my friend, Jan.  I recently learned a new trick about stretching the canvas which is to first anchor it at all four sides (8 staples) then begin balancing the opposite sides and work my way to the edges......remove the 8 staples and finish up with the corners......this painting won't be framed so the stretching of the corners is important.  Below are two stretchers that are due to become paintings soon!
The one on the left is 48 x 60 and the other is 40 x 60.  Great sizes! Can't wait.  Working big has a way of being cathartic and serves as an amazing teacher!  Every large painting I've completed has taken me in a somewhat new direction.