I was privileged today to receive a visit to my studio from Colombian artist, Maria Isabel Salazar de Lince, from Bogota. Maria is an abstract painter who has an upcoming show in Miami, with 20 works of her large 8' x 6' abstracts. She gave me a demonstration of her painting style and in just under 2 hours left me with a completed painting which I will cherish. Here is the unfoldment of the painting, Waves of Bliss, in photos that I took, followed by an image of the completed work.
The art was done on a stretched 2'X3' linen canvas which I prepared with an acrylic gesso ground. The paints are Winsor and Newton oils. Maria works directly on the canvas with a cup of turpentine beside her palette using various sized filbert and flat brushes. She likes them to be large so she cannot lapse into too much detail too early in the painting process - something which I can learn from. The painting was started while standing outside of my studio looking south down the Kullu valley. As the light faded we moved into my studio and finally under the studio lights for the final touches. The first image is the scene that she was looking at. Reta is holding the canvas and brushes for Maria.

 

• Painting should be a joyous process. Maria loves to paint and it shows. 
• Oils can be wet and mobile, not unlike watercolors, handled with very light brush strokes. (Look at how Maria is holding her brush in the image above) 
• A painting can be completed in a single 2-hour work session. This can serve to give it continuity.
• Oils work best when applied from thin to thick. Acrylics can be used for underpainting.
• Palette knifes are good for finishing touches.
• Texture is effective when applied at the end of a painting, serving to pull areas forward.

Check out Maria's website linked to her name above. Be patient as the site is built with Flash (so will not work on mobile devices or tablets) but the wait is well worth it.