I liked the effect I had achieved in this new abstract painting (see previous post)--the sense of light shining through darkness, but felt the composition needed more strengthening.
My first step was to extend the dark gray/black edges all the way to the edge of the canvas. I used a brush for this step, whereas the original painting had been done completely with a palette knife.
Next, I filled in some of the "scraped bare" rectangles with unbleached titanium to make them pop more and to create movement. My next inspiration was to draw lines with cadmium red medium, outlining sections of the composition and adding texture.
Finally, I strengthened the black sections with black lines, and then used my finger to flatten them out. I liked that effect so much that I used my finger to flatten the red lines, also.
