Day 10

2:54 AM

It's been a few days since I have been able to work on "The Damned."  I had to finish up two other paintings I was commissioned to do for a church in Pittsburgh, PA.  I painted a large painting for them in 2011 and earlier this year they commissioned me to do two side panels to turn it into a triptych.  I also had to build custom frames for them.  Fortunately my art shipper arrived ahead of the snow storm and they were safely delivered to the church.  Here is a mock up of the images as they will appear:

The life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.  The triptych will be over 6 ft. x 12 ft. when installed.

Tonight is the first session that shows a little more of a finished layer to the painting.  Up until now everything has been the rough in process.  I have to admit that it is different for me painting on canvas like this.  I stopped painting on canvas back in 2001 when I began building my own wooden supports.  I'm still not much of a fan of the tooth of a canvas.  It requires a lot more work when building up the layers you need and the level of detail can't compare to the smooth surface of a panel.  It remains to be seen whether I'll evolve over the course of these paintings.  Maybe I'll have a fresh approach to my other work.  Who knows.  I am also pretty amazed at how much paint I'm using.  I might also attribute that to the rough texture of the surface.  In any case, here is a before and after photo following tonight's session of about 4 hours.  Now that I'm finished with my other commission the days will be much longer.  See you tomorrow, or, today.  Happy Thanksgiving.

(Before) - part of the background with just the rough in from last week

(After) - worked on an area about 5 ft x 3 1/2 ft tonight.  Painted a distant fire glow behind some ruins.  I'll bring more detail in during the next session