thatjeffcarter was here

That clean white beginning. The canvas is empty.  Waiting. What does it want to be?  A portrait? A landscape? Abstract? Pop?  Does it want linear forms or organic masses?  Color?

Rather than get hung up at this point before I've even begun, I usually just dive into painting.  This day I started with the spray paints.  I've been enjoying them.  I covered the pristine surface with black and blue.  No form.  No shape.  Just a haze of color still waiting for a subject.

As I waited for the paint to dry (something I'm not very good at) I flipped through a small pile of magazines for an idea.  And I found an article in National Geographic about Penguins. My wife really likes Penguins, so I decided that today's painting  would be a penguin just for her.

I used my sketch book to practice drawing the little guy before I put him into the painting, but even so, you can see some of my extraneous lines. 

Next I used some torn pieces of cardboard to make the ice-flow.  I sprayed around the ragged edges of the cardboard.  It might look as if the penguin was lost at this point.  But never fear.

I continued working with acrylic paints to refine and define my ice and to bring back the penguin.

At the end of it all it looked like this:

(you can click on the images to see them full sized.  thank you. that is all.)