Michigan Orange Juice!

“Michigan Orange Juice”–30″ x 36″ oil version of the small (5″ x 7″) Aquabord titled “Orange Float Redux”

It’s been a while, so there are probably very few of you who recall from my last post that I was going to power ahead on making a large oil painting from one of the Orange Float Aquabords. You can revisit the Aquabord™ version here. So I figured I would devote my energy to that for a while and let the blog snooze.

My one requirement for this painting was that it had to turn out absolutely “smashing” so I could enter it in an upcoming juried show. The other requirement was that I was not allowed to let myself get bogged down in detail. In order to accomplish its “smashing-ness” and also put a “no fussiness” umbrella over it, I decided to abandon paint brushes and go with only a palette knife. This required some true letting go on my part. It’s not like I’ve never done that before, but I was never ecstatic about the results.

This time, I can say I really love this painting. That doesn’t mean it will get into the show, but I am practically dancing around my studio today after putting the finishing touches on it.