Three Jewels
2022. Acrylic on canvas. 11 x 14 in.
For those who like rosy pink. Not everyone does, I realize. But somebody’s gonna love this baby. It’s like a bastard Pucci printed on elephant hide and run over by a tire. Exactly a certain person’s cup of tea. Might be a while until that certain person encounters the painting, but it will happen and it will be love.
Three Jewels started out the same as the current collage series, with a gesture in black on a textured canvas, followed by a dilute coat of acrylic color applied with a sponge. But once I got that far – using a quinacridone red, in this case – the interior patterns were calling me. This piece wanted a different treatment. So I skipped the collage and sailed in directly with paint.
Though some of the patterns of color and value that I would use were apparent to me from the time I’d first applied that pink, there was nonetheless considerable shifting around as I continued, and it took a while to balance everything out to my satisfaction. I can get really fussy in the later stages of a painting and spend the bulk of my time with the final fine-tuning.
It’s funny, I’d started a painting in exactly this manner before and when that initial layer of pink got on there I’d really hated it. But I’d soldiered on and ultimately was quite fond of the result. So when I got to the same stage with this one – same pink! – I did not waver but continued with the confidence that comes with experience. Nice to feel that!
By the way, for anybody who cares about these things, the “three jewels” refers to the three tiny spots of full-strength, deep red. I’d originally envisioned quite a bit more of that intense straight-from-the-tube red, but ultimately preferred this balance as it evolved. The pink was enough!
Magicgroove: In the Studio 