Small studies

Knights Valley Mountain and Vineyard View (untitled as of yet), © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Lately I've been working much smaller than usual. It began with a series of paintings, using the same composition but different palettes, done as examples for the classes I teach, to illustrate just how different the same painting can look depending on your color choices.

Because I was working on gessoed panels, rather than canvas, I really enjoyed myself. I realized that I haven't liked working small because of the texture of the canvas, rather than the size itself. The heaviness of the texture, at that size, interfered with my brushwork too much – although I love the texture of the canvas at a large size.

Knights Valley Trees and Vineyards (untitled as of yet), © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

These are two of the paintings, both of Knights Valley scenes. They are each about 7 3/4" wide by 10" high. I'm thinking of using these as studies for larger paintings.