Swamp at Crews Road #2

I just finished this painting depicting a swampy area on Old Crews Road not too far from my house. The paints used for his work are a bit of a diversion from how I normally paint. I normally work on a painting by first creating a layer using Matisse Structure heavy Bodied Acrylics. After this layer is made I will use a combination of Matisse Flow Fluid acrylics and Turner Acryl Gouache to add the details over this layer. For this painting I did not use the heavy bodied acrylic and worked exclusively with Turner Acryl Gouache and Matisse Flow Acrylics. In a way these types of paints are opposites in that the Acryl Gouache is opaque and most of the Flow acrylics are thin and transparent. Using these in conjunction with one another provides for some interesting effects. Certain colors work better with other, so of course a lot of trial and error is involved.

Swamp at Old Crews Road #2 - 12x24" Acrylic on Canvas

Swamp at Old Crews Road

This might be the smallest painting I have ever done at only 5x7". Per square inch this took me about seven times longer than a painting done on a 30x40" canvas. It seems kind of silly to put this in a frame since the 1-1/2" canvas sides occupy about as much space as the face of the canvas. I guess I'll do some experimentation.

The last two months we've been getting alot of rain in eastern North Carolina, so I frequently see these type of swampy areas in very ordinary places.

Swamp at Old Crews Road - 5x7" Acrylic on Canvas