The 8″x10″ Diagonal Cutters painting was so inspiring that I started a 48″x60″ version! Initially the idea of painting such a large canvas was intimidating, but I found out that it is actually easier to paint on a larger canvas. I think part of the reason is that I can be very painterly up close and still enjoy a realistic image after stepping back twenty feet.

With the smaller 8″x10″ painting, I used tiny brushes and couldn’t really control the paint in the finer details.  With the larger painting, I can paint loosely with 1″ brushes heavily loaded with paint and still create an image that seems precise and realistic from a distance. The cool thing is that a close inspection shows giant strokes of thick paint with lots of color variation and texture in areas that would be smooth in the smaller painting.