Fly Forward

"Tension", 2011 Jennie Schut, Oil on Wood

This is a painting I did for my Painting 2 class recently.  The process is called Verdacchio in the Italian version and was implemented by masters such as Carravaggio and Rembrandt.  It is not finished.  I will apply glazes of color to the existing black and white.  The process is very interesting and seems to translate to life; all facets of life.  This method of painting achieves an illusion of depth and richness by adding multiple color glazes to build up color slowly and incrementally.  Each layer is somewhat of an oddity.  I will paint the forehead yellow, the face red, the neck and chest blue.  It will look crazy and inexplicable during each layer.  But each layer is necessary to the form.  Without layers and layers, we are left with a flat, unbelievable and indistinct composition.  This is life, isn't it???  Each layer formed, on its own, seems indescribable, incomprehensible and rather odd, leaving us groping for an explanation.  Timing is everything.  When we are prepared to accept another layer, we receive something that could read as quite enigmatic.  When we acknowledge that we are on a process; a series of receiving, we can live with some mystery.  There is an order to that mystery.  One layer cannot be received before the other layer.  They are received in a particular order.  Our lives are laden with small, thin layers that are, by themselves nothing, perhaps even oddities.  But combined with other layers, the picture begins to make sense and the effects of multiple layers are a remarkably rich depth that can't be substituted or created by another quicker, less arduous, less painstaking process.  It becomes a sacrificial investment of time, resources, material, and SELF to create something that is beautiful and eternal.  There are no shortcuts available on a true process.....

Look for the final painting coming soon.......