Painting No. 121 - Woody Guthrie (Study)

5" x 7" - Oil on Canvas Board

Available for Purchase

No. 121 is a quick little portrait of Woody Guthrie. It's not great but I was trying some new things and pushing out a little bit.

First off, I started painting it right onto the canvas - no sketching, measuring or anything. Just went right into it, trying paint the basic shapes and then mold it into place. Secondly, I did this one abiding by the "rules" for that Value Study on the Daily Paintworks site. The guidelines for that were to only use Burnt Sienna and also to not use white. So in order to get the lightest lights you either had be careful where you put the darker paint or remove it with a thinner or medium.

It was very frustrating to work this way but it really kept it feeling alive. So many times I reach for the white and then you end up going down this rabbit trail of course corrections. Here it was sort of a one-shot deal and it forced me to be a lot more deliberate.