Dana Barbieri

Be kind. This painting was one of my first acrylic paintings. Most likely my first painting on a canvas. I did it back in either my sophomore or junior year of high school. We had just studied Georgia O'Keefe and our assignment was to paint a part of a flower as Georgia did, in a similar style. So I used the acrylic with a watercolor effect to simulate her beautiful blending of color. I remember that I loved painting this piece. I loved mixing the color and applying the paint. The way the brush felt on the canvas.
This one was done the same year. I didn't enjoy this one as much. Figures and faces aren't my thing. But even still there were some things about it that I did enjoy. I am not even sure why I had to have these paintings back and why I needed to show them here. Except that I said I would and maybe it is a full circle moment for me.
Acrylics are kind. In the way that if you "mess up" you can always paint over them. Oils do that, probably better since the drying time is so much slower and you just wipe it off. Watercolors aren't so forgiving.

I stretched my canvas and primed it over the weekend. It was staring at me so today I applied a very watery mix of burnt umber and cadmium yellow with a brush and took a wet paper towel and removed some of it. I have an idea of what I will do next but I don't want to have too much of an idea if you know what I mean.

I hope you had a great weekend! We spotted our bulbs we planted in the fall peeking up through the dirt and surrounded by snow. I couldn't have been more excited!