I don’t work from an easel, I paint with my work flat on a desk. What this means is that I can’t get too far away from my work without moving it off the desk and standing it up. As a result, I found that I was often working close-up, which made my use of color weaker, and increased my use of detail. When my works were framed I felt I had to walk up close to really see them, when actually I wanted to be able to stand across the room and see them. I needed to be bolder. So over time I strengthened my colors and gradually background landscapes disappeared, as I removed everything that I felt was unnecessary in my compositions. Then I switched from watercolor on paper to fluid acrylic on watercolor canvas. Which is how I am painting now. I love the vivid colors, the lightweight canvas, the fact that I don’t have to stretch paper anymore before using it and the fact that I can frame without mats and glass. It took a long time but I think I found my medium!

Tomorrow I’ll show how my subject matter has progressed since I switched to fluid acrylic.

See you tomorrow…
Alison

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Art Inspired by Africa