The Oils Keep Rolling

This, my fourth installation of paintings here,¹ brings with it many painting firsts for me, including crossing new frontiers in terms of size, media, arrangement and style.²

Chicken

When I was a poor college student, before I had even attempted my first oil painting, I used to tape long strips of foil to my walls and then paint on them with acrylic. It was better than the tacky wallpaper in my apartment, was not affected by the humidity (like butcher paper would be), was reasonably cheap and allowed a very high paint coverage (i.e., a little paint went a long way). From that point on, I always loved working big. When I made the switch to oils, however, and attempted to work a large painting, I failed. I had to start small to get a feel for the medium and also to develop more of my style.

Chicken represents my resurfacing in the arena of large paintings. It started as an attempt to do a "large version of Red,"³ but obviously ended up being very different.⁴

	"Chicken," painted January 2006, oil on canvas, 72" x 36"

Choppa

Choppa was inspired by a painting I observed at the Menil Collection⁵ in downtown Houston. Initially I intended to use the pencil markings as a guide for later painting, but I liked the way the graphite showed through the yellow paint enough to leave it as-is. Also, I felt the original, orange color was too drab and painted over it.

	"Choppa," painted April 2006, oil on canvas, 12" x 15"

Flip Me

Most of my paintings have a certain orientation in which I think they look best. It was especially difficult on this one, for some reason, to pick a favorite (although the selected arrangement wins out by a hair); thus the moniker. This piece also marks the first time I have employed anything but motor control for straight lines.

	"Flip Me," painted July 2006, oil on canvas, 19" x 30"

Three High Wide

I achieved two more firsts on this piece: the first time I have used textured canvas, and the first time I have painted a multi-piece set. The texture was formed using strips of canvas secured with acrylic gesso.

The name comes from the ability to move around the pieces with respect to each other for various spaces and styles.

	"Three High Wide," painted September 2006, oil on textured canvas, 3 x 8" x 8"

Blue

Yet another first, this piece signifies my first commission. The purchaser inquired as to a repeat of the aforementioned Red but in the hue shown.

	"Blue," painted October 2006, oil on canvas, 15" x 19"

Notes

¹ The first three painting articles are Oi! Oi! Oils!, Second Round of Oils and Three Oil Paintings, available November from http://www.omninerd.com/2005/12/14/articles/44, http://www.omninerd.com/2005/09/26/articles/37, and http://www.omninerd.com/2005/03/06/articles/29, respectively.

² All of my paintings are displayed and sold at ArtByHansen.com, available November 2006 from http://www.artbyhansen.com/.

³ Red, Brandon Hansen, available October 2006 from http://www.artbyhansen.com/Purchase%20Red.html.

⁴ Due to the large size of the painting, the image included herein is of lesser quality. If you are located in the Houston area, I encourage you to write me an email at brandon@artbyhansen.com if you would like to see it in person.

⁵ The Menil Collection, available November 2006 from http://www.menil.org/.

This article was edited after publication by the author on 11 Dec 2008. View changes.