Large format

I have started a crazy project. What for? Don’t know… The total size is 2 x 3,2 meters.

Die Susanne scheint

Finally I can show a project I worked on recently.

A friend in Arild asked me to make a painting of his wife as a birthday present.
He sent me a bunch of holiday photos, most of them taken with flash, which eliminates all nice shadows. I was able to use one photo and then I went to work…

It was very difficult and I was not happy for a long time. I built up the painting with several layers, I scraped, sanded, and played around. Finally I painted the sides in gold and added two layers of varnish on the entire painting.

Last Saturday the family came to look at it and pick it up. They were all pleased and happy with my work. And I was relieved.

I am in love

Well, I am not talking about myself, but the title of my latest work. I have painted the sides cadmium red, as well as the red part of the shirt. The title is “I am in love”. The background has two layers of varnish, which is not visible in this light, but makes a nice impression.

You almost feel like he is staring right through you, when you are looking straight into his face at a close distance.

What is time?

Today I had a visit in the studio. It was the photographer Jenny Lexander who took a ton of photos of me for a presentation. She told about a homeless guy in Paris who had asked her “what is time?” Did he just want to know what time it was or was it a more philosophical question? She ended up sharing some cheese with him at the bank of the Seine and spending two hours talking about time and other topics.

While she took photos and told about this, I was painting. It was a little hard to focus, but after she left I spent a few hours on my work

A detail below.

The Beginning is not The End

Ok, now I could go ahead with the next step…

I have sprayed orange, bronze and a clear coat.

A smaller version below.

Slow drying paint…

While the titanium white paint is SLOWLY drying, I have started on several new works.

One is a painting based on a photo of an old friend. The painting is 80×80 cm. See the process below…

Next step? Maybe some sanding, some varnish, some zink white, something else???

Working, but nothing to show

I have decided I am not done with my large painting. I am waiting for the paint to dry, titanium white in a thick layers is slow to dry. When it is dry (hopefully tomorrow) I will sand the surface a bit and then add one or two layers of varnish, and then… it is going to be a surprise. All I am telling is: Ed Rusha.

In the meantime I am preparing for several other paintings. I also came up with an idea for a very large painting, 2,4 x 12 meters! The idea is to have it outside and have it ready by Easter next year. I have a good idea about what to paint, More about that later…

Working, but nothing to show

I have decided I am not done with my large painting. I am waiting for the paint to dry, titanium white in a thick layers is slow to dry. When it is dry (hopefully tomorrow) I will sand the surface a bit and then add one or two layers of varnish, and then… it is going to be a surprise. All I am telling is: Ed Rusha.

In the meantime I am preparing for several other paintings. I also came up with an idea for a very large painting, 2,4 x 12 meters! The idea is to have it outside and have it ready by Easter next year. I have a good idea about what to paint, More about that later…

My friend took me to a new level

Not that I am not going to go back to previous levels, but today I experienced something strange:
I did not want to paint, I was tired, had a headache, paid some bills, took care of some other work, painted a part of an outside wall that had been repaired. Had lunch, looked through a big art book.

Then I went to work, added a mix of English red, Parisian blue and some green to her hair (looks almost black), spray painted the red, added black to the background, applied my dark mix to all the dark areas of the painting (shadows, eyes), applied a mix of burnt sienna and white to the face, added a quick layer of warm yellow, scraped off some of the paint. Some cold yellow in the glare in her eyes…

Then I took a large brush and titanium white and very quickly added rough brushstrokes. I was surprised with the result and it felt like I entered a new level – like it or not – too early to say. In any case, after a strange day I am quite pleased…

I don’t know if I am done. I will wait a few days. This is a painting which I think should be viewed up close. Since it is large, 180×80 cm, you will probably want to step away from it. But when you walk up close you will be able to see the grain of the rough plywood, and you will see the oil make glossy areas and other places will be matte, where the oil has soaked in to the wood.

The same picture in smaller format.

I don’t know if anybody else will like it, but I had a very obvious experience of faster heartbeat when I had finished painting. A pretty cool feeling which I have only had a few times.

Scroll down a tiny bit and you can see the beginning… and compare with how it looks now.

Large painting started

I have started a new project. The painting is 180 x 80 cm and the plywood is a very rough and cheap construction board. I am building up layers of paint, and I am also sanding and experimenting as I go along.

This is where I am at now. Now I will let the paint dry for a couple of days.
What do do next? No idea, that will come to me…