More and more I find myself enjoying painting just as a process and less for the end result...studies rather than completely finished details I don't have the patience for. No sense in spending time on something you aren't going to be into in the end anyway. An interesting surface is just the ticket for this type of painting to add an extra unexpected element and help with the rough feel.

This is a quick oil painting of some building tops in Paris, done in a few hours... it would have been cool to do it on location, but then it would seem like work while on vacation! Plus, I'm pretty sure you'd get trampled. I painted on chunk of nice wood I had left over from some cabinet doors and was sure to let the tone show through, to help with the old yellow colour all the buildings are in the city. Though I went with a taller vertical composition, I find it more interesting cropping in, getting rid of a bunch of extra windows.

Sometimes a painting drags on. Especially if it's a larger canvas, and especially if you don't like the direction it's gone. There's always one that sits around for months while you chip away at it.

My most recent battle has been with a painting of some old buildings I call Property, which only within the last few weeks have I started to consider finished. At 36x48 in size, it wore me down over a period of about four months. I worked in layer after layer, starting in oils and then shifting over to acrylic. It didn't seem to matter what I did, it was just turning out much duller than expected. Too tentative...it happens a lot on a big surface...smaller brushes just don't produce enough energy. I made the decision to work back into the painting with house paints and a large brush, dripping and spattering until it felt right. It was a tough choice considering it wasn't really a bad painting and there was the potential to ruin it, but since I didn't like it anyway, the risk seemed worth it. Overall it's a stronger painting and I'm trusting my gut.