After that last post I decided to paint the books. I carried them out to the workshop, photographed them in 29 different arrangements (yes, I counted), then decided to just see if I could slam out a small painting in one sitting (standing, actually).

Could I apply the paint thick enough? Could I make it look accurate in just one pass over the canvas? “Everybody else is doing it” – many of my painting friends, many of the artists whose work is selling on daily painting sites, many many artists paint “alla prima”, which means all in one session, wet-on-wet, single application with bold brush strokes. (that is not a literal translation – I don’t know Italian or Latin or whatever that is)

Here is the painting, step by step.

First, I mixed the colors (but didn’t photograph that step).

Then I drew it on the canvas.

I painted the background with the mixed color that passes for black. It is against the law in ArtWorld to use black. I try to be law-abiding. (But I want to know why it is manufactured if you aren’t supposed to use it??)

The common wisdom in painting is to go from back to front. That is why the background came first. The blue book is second because it is underneath (behind?) the other 2 books.

The red book sat upon the blue book.

And then it was the yellow book’s turn to get painted.

Nope, not finished yet. To be continued tomorrow. . .

Anyone wondering what the books’ titles are?