Scratching with a Palette Knife

"Scratching Out a Living"
6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord
On Exhibit at Randy Higbee Gallery

Yesterday, I shared my painting, "Overhead" that I achieved with using a colorless blender in fairly thick paint.

Today, back in the studio, I tried a similar approach.  I had a 6 x 6 underpainting that I started months ago.  The burnt umber pigment had been dry for ages and I couldn't find my reference photo, so all I had to go on was a memory of the set-up and the value study underpainting.

I wanted to change the color of the cup so I painted it a similar color to a crock I have which I love painting.

I put paint the Gessobord and then scratched it with the tip of my stiff palette knife, added more paint, and scratched some more.  I really like the look of the texture. (If you follow my art approaches, you will know that I love texture...in cp, in pastel and now in oil.)

While this has a different look than the pumpkin, its achieved by starting with a white Gessobord vs an underpainting of burnt umber on Gessobord; and by the amount of paint applied.

This approach seems a lot less like painting and more like sculpting.  Very fun!