I think I've mentioned before that sometimes as my 'artist skillset' evolves, I don't only gain things but often lose things, too. I look back at drawings from my highschool days and long for the laser focus I could hold for hours on end, rendering scenes with photographic precision. Nastiya still has this skill in spades, so maybe that has something to do with stage of life.
Before Genna and I began collaborating, I was creating texture and interest in my work with heavy 'impasto' style brushwork. As Genna brought me increasingly complex and nuanced 'start points', my painting style became increasingly flat and broad. This shift made images that used to be no brainers a huge challenge for me. I revisited one such image last week with "Logsled". Here is a 'pre-Genna' version, circa 2003:
(Logsled, oil on canvas, 85" x 65")
Each log end is a single, heavy brushstroke where the brush was loaded with multiple variations of the taupe color. The edges of some strokes are ragged and stuttering, a technique I have completed abandoned for now.
Here we are circa 2006. Simplification had begun but the underpainting process had not fully matured:
(Logsled, 40" x 30" oil on canvas)
And here's the current version, circa last week:
("Logsled", oil on linen with metallic acrylic underpainting, $2600)
Different, no? Check back in five years and I'll make it again!