further painting experiments after NAS

Working large From the course at NAS I observed my classmates painting on huge canvases and wow! It sure has a dramatic impact. So my next venture was to try the same. Using a photo of Linda, I worked on this A0 size canvas. What I realized was 1. Composition is vital. You can't crop a mounted canvas - well, not easily at any rate. So if the picture is odd, best to redraw. This composition had the figure looking to the right so more blank space was required to this side. 2. A large canvas demands large brushes otherwise it gets too detailed and slow. It isn't easy to have confident brush strokes if the biggest brush you had only makes only a thin line. 3. A good memory of paint mixes is crucial as work is done in several discrete stages - not so good if you could not match the colour again. More repainting then! Here is the results: I has to make the ear and hands much larger after the paints dried as I realized how small they looked. I think the larger brush strokes would have resulted in a more spontaneous painting but my daughter liked the results anyway. "Mummy, don't sell or give away the lady in the hat..."