The Vast Unsayable Layer 4

Most of my paintings are created with layers of transparent oil paint glazes. The Old Masters painted this way and it is the reason many of the backgrounds on these paintings are dark–yet deep. The constraints to painting this way are a limited palette of colors and the tendency of the painting to get too dark with the continuous buildup of pigment and medium. The beauty in this method of painting is the luminosity you can create with paint on canvas–if you know when to stop. I’ve got 4 layers of paint on here thus far and am going to sit with the painting for a while. I’m thinking a bit more pink and some cool tones to balance it out!

From Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet Things are not nearly so comprehensible and sayable as we are generally made to believe. Most experiences are unsayable, they come to fullness in a realm that words do not inhabit. And most unsayable of all are works of art, which-alongside our transient lives- mysteriously endure.

This is a painting I created in 2009 for the After the Age of Abundance series using the same transparent glazing technique. Again 36×36 oil on canvas private collection

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