Painting by the square

A while back I did this experiment - kind of a problem solving thing for night painter who has little time to paint these days. I used the theory that if you could spend an hour painting a small 8x10 - why not apply that time to a larger canvas over a number of sessions and at the end have a solid painting as opposed to small ones with little value for time spent. 

After looking at the photo file and the history of this 30x30 painting afterwards - it worked. And if it worked for me it could work for anyone with little time by becoming a very productive "nine-square painter"

 #669 Koi and Lily Pads 30x30 oil on linen (6-13-12)

This painting took (3) days because I mixed it up with other chores - some times I did 2 or 3 squares at a time - I never work on more than one painting at a time so it had my continuous attention....and I completed a square before moving to the next - doing as little square crossing as possible. 

Lessons learned

•  Conquer and divide worked again - nine equal grids match photo reference
• Easy focus - used an organized random approach so the adjacent square didn't influence me - a bit like a puzzle.
• Maintained colour control - forced to colour match into the next square
• Light and shadow - easier to maintain because of painting colour shapes

The file has too many photo's to post but, each is important so I used movie maker and made a slide show.

#669 Movie clip

When it was finished I used it as my 2012 OPA Eastern entry and it was accepted - so right now the painting is in Bennington, Vermont. It was not good enough to win any awards however it might cause a future trip to the bank:=)