Detail of Spring. In the background, there is a nice heard of cows. I’m really happy with how the colors and shapes are coming together.
Detail of Spring. I love cows! I’m working on finding the right amount of personality for these lovelies. I want them to be discoverable. As in, I want them to not jump out at the viewer immediately, but to be enjoyable to find.
Spring. 48 x 72 inches, oil on canvas. In progress.
I’ve been thinking a lot about painting size recently.
I’ve been painting for about 30 years. Most of that time I have painted in a variety of sizes, but from 
2009-2012 I was a “daily painter” working almost exclusively in a 6 x 6 inch format. I painted daily and finished about two or three 6-inch paintings each week.
Focusing on painting small taught me a lot of technical skills, and about what I want to say as an artist.
So here I am today working at the other end of the size spectrum.
I recently finished a series of 40 x 40-inch paintings, and am currently working on a series of 48 x 72-inch paintings. Working large is great. It has a new set of challenges and rewards.
When I go into the studio in the morning, I squeeze onto my pallet what looks like as much paint as I used for a year of painting 6-inch paintings. So, of course, I wondered if that could be right?
I thought you might find the answer interesting. I could fit ninety-six 6-inch paintings into one of the paintings that are currently on my easel. 96!
So, no, I’m probably not squeezing a whole year’s worth of painting onto my pallet every day. It might take me about 2 weeks now to go through a year’s worth of paint then.
Pretty wild, right?
What do you think?