MICHAEL WHELAN • DUNE DANCE by Michael Whelan, week 12 in his...

DUNE DANCE by Michael Whelan, week 12 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.

This was painted mostly with left over burnt sienna, but there was raw umber, white and a tiny dab of Cadmium yellow left on my palette as well.

I took a scrap of canvas and made a few lines on it with a pastel pencil, but I rubbed them out—not very well as it turns out as you can see the lines through the paint. Choosing instead to draw with a brush, I diluted the leftover burnt sienna paint with solvent and sketched in wavy lines which suggested a figure with fabric blowing around her.

I had no idea where this was going to go when I started, so I almost feel as if it painted itself. Simply put: you make a mark, then react to it; add another mark and then react to the change. Repeat until something happens. If lucky or persistent enough, things start clicking into place, and after a while you realize, “Hey, I painted something!”

I enjoy opportunities to work in a less constrained and looser style, not so obsessed with details.