Snow Geese in flight
2012, 16 x 20 inches, acrylic on canvas

This is the picture I was trying to capture

 

I really like how initially the picture looks like just splashes of white and black. Then you realize it’s a flock of birds and your (or, at least my) eyes start running across the image and have a hard time focusing on one specific bird or feature. This effect reminded me of what Hans Hofmann said the goal was for his “push and pull” technique of painting: essentially, he used different painterly techniques to push and pull your attention around the canvas, trying to keep the viewers’ eyes in constant motion. This picture reminded me of that.

There’s such an amazing energy and depth to it – you can almost hear and feel the flapping of the wings.

I applied about 8-10 separate layers of paint, from wet and runny to thick, raw acrylic paint – trying to create that depth. By building up the paint to be very thick, I was trying to give it a 3D aspect, like the birds would actually have. It didn’t turn out exactly as I hoped, but nothing ever does.