Summer Afternoons

One breath in,
One breath out

I stand, look again
Ponder this summer opus
A diptych of breath
Rippling with breeze
And leaves, the air
So humid, so soft
Colors want to melt
Blur into creek
And clouds as they
Languidly play across
twenty-four hundred
square inches

Technical painting notes and close-up details: Summer Afternoons is a diptych painted on two birch-faced slabs. I used several coats of alkyd primer (sanded to a velvet finish). The initial blocking in of shapes was done with a soft rubber roller and thinned black and burnt umber oil paints. The paint surface was manipulated with solvents and silicone scrapers, then allowed to dry. Subsequent glazes and more roller strokes defined the vegetation, with limited use of soft brushes. I used mostly Liquin impasto medium to make the paints more transparent.