It was my 50th birthday last Friday and I had the day off – so I painted. This is what I created, my largest painting so far – apt for my big day. It is 4ft x 6ft.
Being large the biggest challenge was the heat, and so the drying time. I started with acrylic but when that started drying too fast I shifted to oil. I added liquin impasto as a medium to thicken and raise the paint off the canvas (makes for a cool affect with an uplighter at night).
The initial plan was to create a mixture of colours – some blues and yellows to pop out from the background. But as I painted 50 Shades Of Red as a concept started to form …so I went with it. There are some remnants of colour in there, but very subtle and you need to look for them, and they don’t show in the picture.
I had a wonderful time and got present; lost in the act. It reinforced in me that we should do what we love, and love what we do.
50 Shades Of Red
Oil on acrylic on canvas
122x183cm
This for example is some of the yellow grinning through.
Marcus Gallo 