A Glimpse into the Process of Making "Trip to the Beach"

The anatomy of my painting, "Trip to the Beach"

The specs: Oil Paint on Canvas, 20"(50.8cm) x 16"(40.64cm), 2013

Often my works are not terribly straight forward in their process or production. That is to say that the original composition tends to change radically through the making of the work as I journey along with the paint in the moment. However, occasionally I have a vignette which knows itself more or less from the beginning. In the image below is the initial composition. I'd had this in mind--a surreal organism in the foreground, against a more classical background, reminiscent of paintings I might see during my time in Naples, Italy, as a child.

The composition is set upon a few layers of grey gesso. The background and foreground are given a layer of initial oil paint and color to start from, in a complimentary color scheme.

Very quickly further details are added to the environment, and begin to creep into the more complex, surreal organism in the foreground. At this point the surreal organism is still deciding its color palette.

The process continues setting down the fundamental color schemes of the entity.

Once the colors are decided, the process of fleshing out the organism and the environment begins more concretely. Finer details begin to emerge.

Below, finishing values and glazes are applied, and final compositional elements are put into play. At this point the image in my head has essentially manifest.

This work was a lot like when you have a song stuck in your head and you need to hear it, to clear it. Typically my paintings are a mystery until the very end, so this piece is the exception. Later I'll share a messier psychedelic work to illustrate the more radical transformations of a typical painting.