Even smaller studies

Knights Valley vineyards and mountains (untitled study), © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The next logical step in working with small studies would be to try it a little smaller, right? So I painted over some small panels, originally little grid paintings from my college days, later glazed over with red. These are about 4 1/2" x 6-ish" in size, close to the size you see them at here.

The red underpainting creates a different feeling from my usual work – maybe a moodiness? It makes an interesting comparison.

Knights Valley vineyards and mountains (untitled study), © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Working this small reduces the composition to its essential shapes – nothing extraneous. I felt a freedom working on these little babies completely different from my experimentations on small canvases.

Knights Valley trees and mountains (untitled study), © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

I was reminded of Monterey Bay painter Andy Williams, who paints small 4" x 5" panels, in his pochade box, when he's working on location. Then, back in the studio, he creates 6' paintings from those little studies. Over ten years ago, on an Elkhorn Slough paintout in preparation for an Elkhorn Slough Endangered Landscapes show, we painted the same spot at Hudson's Landing, maybe ten or twenty feet apart. I don't remember him taking photos, as I do, to refer to later.

Knights Valley trees and mountains (untitled study), © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Although I've used thumbnail sketches fairly extensively for working out compositions on location, I've not done much with using painted studies as the basis for future large compositions. I'm thinking that's likely going to change – I'm having too much fun with these little studies.

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.