Thursday, February 2, 2012

Sky in July

Sky in July, Waskesiu
10 x 10"
oil on canvas
© Nicki Ault, 2012 

This was done quickly the other day... just some play time before I tackled a huge canvas. It was intimidating staring at the blank, white, 30 x 60" canvas, so I got out some colours I am comfortable with (blues) and mucked around, ending up with what you see above. I then decided to continue to reduce the fear factor of the large canvas by mapping in a bit of an underpainting with Burnt Sienna and Quinacridone Nickel Azo. As soon as it wasn't white anymore it seemed more do-able.


Good lesson for the future. Finally last Friday I spent about 10 hours painting like a crazy person. I had the studio to myself and may I just say that both Blue Rodeo and Prince and The Revolution sound really good on high volume! At any rate, the last few days have been spent making improvements and changes to this behemoth; a lot of time has been put into this one. It is close to being revealed and with it will come an announcement.

6 comments:

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Nicki,

That was my comment above. I just had a typo, so I tried to remove it, but it didn't go completely. Feel free to take it off please. What I said was Wow -- an announcement. I'm excited. Love Sky in July, and I think it's great that you're going big.

XO Barbara

Nicki said...

Thanks Barbara, going this big has been fun. It's the largest canvas I've done now and the most rectangular, too. It's also the first time I have painted on the wall as opposed to the easel. Do you have any big work on the go?

Hope you are well,

Nicki XO

Kim Rempel said...

Well, now I'm all curious!! I love this challenge you've set for yourself. I think this is what keeps things exciting and pushes us to grow. Keep us posted ; )

Nicki said...

Hi Kim,

Yes, I recently went through a small stretch of panic/stress because I have been feeling like I am not growing quickly enough. I exhaust myself sometimes. Anyway, gotta keep moving forward!

Nicki

-Don said...

Great job of overcoming your fears with action. That always seems to work the best for me, too.

I love your sky and water in Sky in July, Waskesiu. The raw colors and brushstrokes make me smile. I notice that when you got to your trees, though, that you seemed to have gotten a little tentative with your strokes and color choices. Just an observation...

I can't wait until you're ready to show us some more of "the behemoth".

-Don

Nicki said...

Hi Don, you are the master of pushing yourself to work. I am always amazed at how prolific you are.

You could be right about the trees... I was also not as interested in that area and it probably shows. Thanks for the observations.

I think I am ready to photograph the big 'un. It should be soon...

Nicki