I covered a lot of canvas today by working fast and deliberately choosing to make broad compositional strokes rather than finessed detailed gestures. The chair is looking appropriately wobbly and now the composition is beginning to make sense. I like the rickety structure holding the chair together; later I’ll paint boy scout rope lashings to hold the sticks together. I didn’t paint the Emperor’s right hand because the reference shot isn’t particularly inspiring, with an awkward thumb and a strange angle to the hand that lacks any grace. I’ll get Aaron to pose for me so I can improve it later in the week.
Working so fast was very exciting and slightly disturbing, but if it means that I can figure out a methodology for creating greater quantities of paintings without sacrificing quality I’ll try to keep up the pace. The master Bouguereau painted as many as forty-five magnificent paintings a year!
