Day twenty-seven– Friday April 27 – 2018. Starting at 1430
2 hours
30cm x 30cm
Oils
I am overwhelmed by the task! The colours are exploding, and I understand that I have gone into a gigantic job. I am not at all satisfied with the result, but I have made this promise to show the whole story in a truthful manner. So the failures have the same importance as the successes. After all it tells a great deal about the changing conditions in nature – and in this special spot in particular.
Even more challenging than this is the constantly changing water. When I begun there was a cloud mirrored in the middle. Five minutes later the sky was totally blue. One second the water is flat like glass, and the mirroring is perfect, the next a breeze blurs it all and turns it into confusing mosaic. So even thought the weather is perfect, I am full of stress.
The snow and ice, that I have become familiar with, made the scenes fixed and clear. Now with the constantly changing water, and all these blues and greens, I am out of control.
Initial step
When at first I put onto the panel the starting composition, I was fairly satisfied. But the changing water made me less concentrated, and the water was painted much too thickly.
Thick paint
I also had a quite silky ground to paint on, so a thin layer didn’t cover the background enough – forcing me to put on thicker layers of paint. When I finished the painting, I realized what I should have done with the foreground, and I decided to paint another one, just to see if I could manage to do what I intended to.
Much thinner glazes
If I had done this from the beginning, I think I would have had another and better result.
My wife decided to surprise me and combine a work-out and a visit to me deep in the woods. She came, took some pictures of me, and left disappointed, because I hardly noticed her at all.
My wife’s photograph of me in action. (Tone Myhren)
Magne