Over the last year I have been experimenting with painting on canvas. During the pandemic I worked with watercolors but found it unsatisfying. I don’t have quite enough patience to wait for paint to dry before adding additional color. I also like strong colors so I decided to try painting with acrylics on canvas. I like acrylic paint because it can be cleaned up with water. I decided to use canvas to overcome a fear of not creating art that is good enough. My goal has been to create to enjoy the process and accept the product at the end.
During this process I have observed an interesting thing about my paintings. I found myself planning out the order I would paint the colors to improve their appearance. In the past I haven’t planned this order. I would find myself trying to paint in sky after I had painted a cloud or sun. The resulting mix would stand out, appearing as a mix of objects instead of a blended whole.
As I write this, the concept seems simple. However, I had to paint two pictures, making mistakes, before I started using this technique. I chose to paint a series of pictures of the full moon and the common subject helped me in my planning. I would think about how to show the effect of more light around the moon that fades away into the night sky. I’d paint a darker color for the background and add lighter layers on top that were centered around the moon. I’d add in dark shades for the landscape over the night sky so the shadows would appear in front of the sky in a smooth pattern.
For my latest picture, Lady in the Moon, Summer 2023, I started painting silver as a background of light, blue on top of it and gray surrounding the lighted area. I am working on techniques to blend the different colors but in the meantime I like the effect.
In between that, I painted black for the hill in front of the rising moon. That may seem redundant, painting black on a black canvas, but the texture of the painting would not match the rest of it if I didn’t paint it in. I then painted the moon and used gray to paint the shades of craters on the moon. I also painted the splotches for the trees and houses that are on the hill.
The picture is not accurate, as a photo would be. I wanted to capture the feel of looking at the moon, as it rises, and hint at the lady in the moon that can be seen, when looking at it in the right way. An optical illusion, since we humans like to see faces, and one that I like to see when the full moon rises.
What was interesting to me is how this technique of planning the layers of paint helped me with other problems. I would think of how I could have some activity occur that would provide a foundation for other tasks. I suspect many artists take this process for granted, for myself it was an insight into a new way to look at things. I also learned to let go of my worry if I did forget to add paint in a specific order. While the final picture looks better when things go well, I can paint over and redo specific items. It’s not a perfect picture, it is one that captures the feel of the scene in a way that I find pleasing.
The most important lesson is to let myself create something just for the action of creation. It is very easy for me to get too focused on creating things as a business and forgetting the joy I feel in just creating.
Pictures by J.T. Harpster, prints of selected photos can be found at our Redbubble shop
Help support our work on Patreon, get access to short stories and news about Shell Creek Publishing.