Saturday, November 30, 2013

Eastern Towhee in Wet Paint

Eastern Towhee at Houston Meadows. First state of Acrylic Painting by Ken Januski.

Wet paint of course is redundant. All paint is wet. But it's a tern used by many artists to describe juicy, thick paint. It's the way I painted for years when I was an abstract painter in oil and acrylic. It's the opposite of paint consisting of thin washes and glazes.

All in all I still have a preference for thicker paint, though it's not something I've indulged much in the last 5-10 years. In any case it is the state of this initial version of an Eastern Towhee seen at Houston Meadows this summer.

Towhees are common birds here, though heard far more often than seen. When they do appear though anyone who appreciates color has to be taken by their rich combination of black, white and chestnut. They are very striking birds.

I did a few field sketches of this bird, but also took some photos. But I've never chosen one as the subject for a painting or print. When I looked at the photo today though I couldn't help but think: wet paint! As I think about how I go about starting a painting or print it generally involves looking through my photos and sketches. More time is spent looking than doing anything else.

What is surprising now that I've resumed acrylics is that some subjects that never jumped up and said "Paint me!" now do.

My guess is that this will get toned down a fair amount as I develop it. But only time will tell.

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