Destruction proceeds the creation, or re-creation. I enjoy smudging and erasing images just to see if I can rebuild them differently. If I don't take the time to do so, the finished paintings would look odd, because they lack this certain quality that I'm after, which I can't explain in words exactly what that is. Energy? Tension? Danger? Attitude? I don't know.
It feels invigorating to completely erase a finished painting! When my paintings come out dead, I take an electric sander and sand them down to nothing. This is another reason I love painting on wooden panels.
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| trace of gray paint stays after sanding |
The leftover paint acts as a groove and I kinda like painting on a surface that is not completely white. It also fits my subject matter of aged or abandoned structures in urban landscape.
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| underpainting in transparent oxide red |
My underpainting sometimes turns out really tight. Depending on the subject matter I go back and forth between really loose and tight underpaintings. I wanted to be faithful to the form of this car but left the background less defined.
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| Tempest, 2018, oil on panel, 32"x48" |
Painting with brayers opened up a whole new universe in front of me. When I paint plein air I still use brushes, but in the studio with larger panels, I don't even dream of using brushes.
Nowadays I stop sanding the original paintings halfway and leave ghost images.
I painted over these in a way that the ghost images showed through - they became the "under-underpantings."
By the way dried oil paint powder is toxic. Don't forget to wear a mask and goggles when sanding!
