Oils and Acrylics

Aglint  ©Kesler Woodward 2024  Acrylic on Canvas  36" x 48"

As I've said in this space many times, I never know (or even think about) what I'm going to paint next until I finish a painting and am about to start a new one. I never, ever work on more than one painting at a time, and while I'm working on that painting, it's all I can think about. When it's finished, it goes on the studio wall out of the way. As I put up a new canvas, I start to ponder what I want to paint next, and at the same time, whether I want to work in acrylics or oils. For me, paintings that are about light, like this one, seem to need to be in acrylic, so that the light can pass through the transparent pigment, bounce off the pure white of the primed canvas, and return to the viewer's eye almost as if backlit. 

Aglint was painted in the last days of winter, as the glorious light of the long season of cold was just beginning to change to the burgeoning light of  spring. I'm always excited that the days are growing longer, of course, but I always want to cling just a little longer to the crisp snow on the branches in the forest and the magical light that fills the winter woods.

Brothers ©Kesler Woodward 2024 Oil on Canvas 20" x 16"

The birch portraits, by contrast, often seem to want the richer, fleshier sensuality of oils. As I walk out my door, I greet the birches which I pass by every day like old friends, noting the way the shifting light brings out their individual colors and the way they change as they age, season by season and year by year. And as we walk or run on the endless trails through the surrounding forest, I invariably spot new ones, wondering why I hadn't noticed this one or that one before. 

The woods are dense with these tall, thin trunks. I can almost never see a single tree in its entirety, in isolation. I always feel like I'm greeting new ones face-to-face, and so I seem to always paint them eye-to-eye. 

Taiga Birch ©Kesler Woodward 2024  Oil on Canvas 20" x 10"

Comments

[Kesler Woodward]

Thanks and Happy Spring to you, Carol! It has been a gorgeous one here, with day after sunny day and a quick breakup. Just yesterday (5/4) the trees leafed out, and we went from bare hillsides to green forests! One of the things I most love here is the drama of the changing seasons!

[Carol Bryner]

Hi Kes! I've been catching up with your blog this evening. Been a busy winter. I always love to see what you're working on, and also to see that you still have successful shows. It's interesting to me that you alternate between oil and acrylic. I can see why you paint the birches in oil. Maybe that's why I'm still partial to your birches, although I really admire the way you vary your subjects. I hope spring has sprung in Fairbanks. It's sort of here in Anchorage, and it was in full bloom in Portland when we left there a week ago. Thanks for the inspiration you give by your hard work and beautiful paintings. Happy spring!