Hats and Bags

Hats and Bags

(acrylic on board, 30 x 30 cm)

I was surprised at how long this took to finish. There was a lot of balancing of tones, colours and implied textures to get right and the background needed adjusting several times to make the hats sit properly in relation to the wall. 

But it's finished now and ready to frame. I think it makes a nice pair with the Jelly Shoes painting, but will also hang quite well with the smaller Caps and Bags.

 Jelly Shoes

(acrylic on board, 12 x 12 in)

Caps and Bags

(acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 cm)

When I put the final touches to Hats and Bags, I felt a bit deflated because I realised I'd probably come to the end of this thread. There are more hats I could paint, but for now I think I'm done with them. I have a similar idea to explore which may result in one or two related works, but we'll have to see how that progresses. 

"What to do next?" is often a problem when you've done no work on the side to draw out lurking thoughts. The thing to do, though, is ensure you don't let a time of contemplation become a long fallow period. I find it becomes so much more difficult to start work again then.

Caps and Bags

Caps and Bags

(acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 cm)

A problem with my recent reliance on composing subjects with the aid of Photoshop was highlighted this week as the snow came down. Although I still had access to Photoshop,  I find working from a screen impossible and I couldn't print anything off because my printer gave up the ghost at the beginning of the week.

Snow-related setbacks meant my replacement printer didn't arrive until yesterday. In the meantime, to stave off cabin fever, I pulled out a printout I'd worked on a while ago and produced this small painting over a couple of days.

I like it but am interested to see that it's mostly painted in the way I would have painted it were I using oil paint.

Six Italian Caps

Six Italian Caps
(Acrylic on canvas, 8x8 in)

I knew I had to do something with the upper right cap: it was a curious colour and the Italian flag and lettering, coupled with the line between the cap and brim, was making an annoyingly gurning face. 

Once you've seen that sort of thing, it just won't go away, so I finally settled on replacing the flag and letters with the more standard "ITALIA". The subdued brown of the cap changed to a brighter yellow and now I'm much more satisfied with it. Satisfied enough to sign it, anyway.

Painting the Caps

Six Italian Caps WIP
(Acrylic on canvas, 8x8 in)

This is how the Italian Caps painting ended up yesterday. I'm quite pleased with the way it's going and am looking forward to seeing the logos and trimmings bringing the whole thing to life.

Six Italian Caps

Six Italian Caps 
(Markers in A5 sketchbook)

Although I haven't finished the small paintings I began last week, I've been thinking about ideas for some new ones. This is a drawing I did today of some baseball caps I photographed in Bari last year. 

I think it has potential, but, as always, I'd be interested to hear your opinions. This is a colour try-out in Photoshop: