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Re-working a canvas
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Message
Posted
Hi. I'd like opinions on what I can do to this acrylic painting. I was happy with the first day's work, but have definitely gone in the wrong direction with the second. I'm reasonably happy with the progress on the sky and sea, but the beach is all wrong. I'm trying for the peace of the Beachcomber as he examines a find, oblivious to everything else. Can I gesso over just the beach or should I start from scratch on a fresh canvas?
Posted
Well you can just rework areas that you’re not happy with using acrylic!
No need to gesso over areas unless you particularly feel the need to go that route!
What are your specific issues here? In my opinion the beach needs some fine tuning - get rid of those long black streaks for a start, build up some warmer earth colours in smaller controlled brush strokes, preferably a filbert brush.
Posted
The long strokes are patterns in the shingle made by the waves. That's my main issue; the beach is shingle right up to the foreground, where it's sand with patches of pebbles. Here's a black and white image of the original photograph. The figure is my late husband. I want the focus to be on him but the fussiness is distracting.
Posted
As you developed it, the painting seems to have got a lot darker - there's a tonal problem, therefore: the darker you get, the more colour you're trying to add to counteract it: and that doesn't work.
But the good news is, you don't need to start again on a new canvas (unless you want to): you can lighten the tone overall, and calm that foreground down a fair bit, by just painting over what's there already - a bit more white, or ochres and siennas lightened with white, Titanium White, not Zinc or mixing white: don't put pressure on yourself - take it slowly, forget that you want this painting to work for your late husband, just enjoy the process of painting it. Lay it aside for a day or two, work on something else, come back to it with fresh eyes.
If you want the figure to be the focus, sublimate the land and sea-scape to it - make shapes lead to the figure so far as you realistically can: straighten that horizon line, it's very wobbly, look for the big shapes and define them - above all, lighten the whole thing, and decide what you want it to be: a representation of your husband, primarily, or a landscape in which he's but a detail. I think you're trying to achieve the former, but have got bogged down in the latter.
I really would give it a day or two - acrylic will wait for you with no problem: as Alan says, you can apply acrylic primer ("gesso") over the whole thing - if you want to. You could also apply it right up to and around the figure, if you would find that an easier way to re-establish the light in the picture and get the relative tones right. Then get those big shapes in - the sweep of the beach, the sea - with broad strokes of a big brush: worry about detail later - but try not to "worry" at all! I realize this painting means a lot to you, but try to forget that and think just about the painting: it's not crucial that you get everything "right" - the beauty of acrylic is that you can work it until the result finally pleases you: lift the pressure from your shoulders.
