Trusting the Process

My Process of Painting

I’ve been asked a few times what is meant by ‘process-driven’ work. To put it simply, it means that I don’t plan the work beforehand, but I let the process lead me intuitively. Of course, once in a while, there are exceptions. For instance, when I finish a piece and feel that I need to do a second piece along the same lines. But even then, little planning is involved.

What is important for me is not to overthink it, keep myself loose, relaxed and trust that the process will bring me to a good result at the end.

So here I’m breaking down the painting process by documenting key stages and offering a little summary of how it works from start to finish.

1 .

I start by painting a solid colour and this could either be a very light or dark colour. In this case I began with a peach followed by a darker shade of rose. I then use a berol marker to make some marks all over the surface, followed by Prussian blue paint for the lines. And this is really the fun part where I don’t plan the composition or think what the painting is about. Doing it this way ensures that I keep my process spontaneous and loose.

2.

After filling in a lot of blue lines, I decided to turn the canvas upside down at this point as the composition was beginning to look very interesting. You can see how the composition just emerges instinctively from mark making.

Then, I decided to leave the canvas aside for a few days to finish off another painting instead. (I find this process useful, as the start of any painting can be used as a warm-up session, before you complete a different painting.)

3.

 After a few days of staring at this composition, I found the colour green just calling out to me as it creates a great contrast to these background colours. I lay in various shades of green from phthalo greens to lime, emerald, viridian and olive greens.

At this point the composition has a lot more structure and I felt an urge to connect the bottom part of the painting to the top. Again, process-driven work is really driven by little urges such as these. So, it’s important to just follow them closely.  I reached for Prussian Blue and connected these 2 areas with long straggly lines. I’m satisfied with it but I’m not sure where to go from here.

So, this is a good time to take a break from it and do something different.

4.

The next day, I suddenly knew what I needed to do, I use quick brushstrokes to fill in various shapes. I don’t care too much about making them smooth as I want to keep them dynamic and vibrant.

I take a picture of it so I can look at it on my phone, this helps me ensure it has enough contrast and balance. I also look at it in the mirror and turn it upside down so that it is balanced either way. I’m pretty happy with it and know that it is almost done.

It is good to sleep over it before finishing it off. Sometimes the paint can look slightly different the next day and I’ll notice different parts that either needs toning down or emphasizing.

5.

For the final touches, I decided to smoothen out some of the rough brushstrokes while leaving some peaking through. I used white to tone down some of the brighter colours.

And that’s it! I catch myself smiling at it and I’m totally happy with it—so I know I’m done!

I just want to add that the process doesn’t always go smoothly. Sometimes I do over think it and everything just looks wrong to me. Sometimes I have too much on my mind and I don’t know what my gut is telling me. In these cases, I just throw them away and start over. It’s painful but it’s all part of the process!