Michigan Creekbottom, 2009 - 10
oil on canvas, 12" x 16"
Working with an image from a great walk in Michigan with my painting buddy Chris I started this painting, one devoid of sharp lines and more focused on atmosphere. I was interested in trying new things with palette knives so this was a challenge piece for me. Once I get started with using the knives I seem to get on a roll unlike painting with brushes. The surface becomes so much more important to me and controlling the details takes a back seat. Still relatively new to the style, I experimented with directional applications, keeping most of my strokes horizontal to show the flatness of the creekbottom.
I recently took the painting back out and reworked the entire image. First scraping down the high spots of the last version to paint over the whole thing. I added all kinds of colors and created a lot more depth and brought it from being a quick learning painting to a finished piece. Now the paint is complex and varied, the surface thoroughly worked over.
