Painting No. 11 & 12: Apple Studies

Painting No. 11, 5x7in, oil on canvasboard
$30, click here to purchase

Painting No. 12, 5x7in, oil on gessoboard

Here I am experimenting with surfaces: canvasboard vs. gessoboard. I painted these paintings at the same time, trying to figure out which surface is going to work best for me and the style I'm going for. The advantage of gessoboard is that the relatively slick surface keeps my brushstrokes quick and I can create angular strokes which I really like. I still need to get the hang of it though and learn to apply the paint thicker...I'll be buying new synthetic brushes soon to see if that helps. The canvasboard definitely gives me better 'grip' and control, but I tend to go back and overwork the painting and it ends up too "blendy"!