Welcome!  Today is about texture… the rough surface of my paint on my canvas.  The “why” I do it.

I didn’t start out painting texture but came to it naturally as a way of applying paint when I was taught by Greg Damery at OCAD to paint without using thinners, additives and chemicals to clean brushes. I took his healthy advice to heart and found that I could either rub the oil paint into the canvas for thin layers, or I could slather it on and create a sculptural effect with the paint.  I use a lot of paint. I like to joke about the paint store owner being happy when I walk in the door!

My Skin

On a “beneath the surface” level of my painting, my textured surfaces are my skin;  the layer of my body that interfaces with the world.  The surface reflects my emotional and psychological state while I am engaged in the process. The surface can be full of blobs or gobs or prickly points often containing a mixture of tumultuous colour within each stroke of paint that are done with brushes.  Sometimes I play smooth areas off against highly textured sections.

How I Paint My Surface

I paint wet into wet.  This greatly affects my painting process as I complete or almost complete one area of my painting at a time.  It is sort of a drawing technique of having the under layers wet so that I can draw lines through the wet paint.  It is a very unique way of painting that works well for me and my brain.  It is like growing an image, as in a scratch and reveal.
Another important aspect for me is that I love creating something that shows the evidence of the creator in it. I  wanted to create paintings that could not be duplicated or copied or replicated.

3 D Effect

The canvas surface absorbs and reflects light and the sculptural effect of the paint means that as light changes throughout the day, so too the paintings change. They are usually brightly lit in the gallery and I sometimes have the opportunity to demonstrate how the paintings change as the light levels change.  Sometimes people like them a lot more without the bright lights on them, such as in the environment they move them into in their homes or business. 

Lighting Effect on Textured Surface

A winter painting I presently have at Loft Gallery becomes almost a dusk pathway in low lighting or an over the top spectacular winter’s day with gallery lighting! 

Lovers Lane lit up

Mood change with low light

“Here’s to letting our lights shine in 2019!”

Debra