Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Acrylic Painting by Brad Rickerby

Off White

24 x 24 x 1.5"

Abstract Acrylic Painting on Canvas

by Brad Rickerby

Sides Painted - Ready to Hang

Technical note: The painting is brighter than it appears here. Because of all the white, it was basically impossible to photograph and show its real colors without blowing out the highlights (that is photo speak for making the photograph look bad).

This is, I believe, the largest painting I have ever done, and it took the longest too. The idea was once again to find a sense of freedom in the process of the painting. To just let go and paint. Letting go is great for the painting and for my sense of well being too.

I started this painting with large, 2 inch brushes and dark full color paint, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Dioxazine Purple to name a couple. At the same time I put on bunches of Course Pumice Gel to give patches of texture. Once dry I started with various and successively smaller brushes painting until the vast majority of the darker colors were covered. There is virtually no straight white paint in this work. Each white that you see is actually a Titanium White mixed with a small amount (very small, like I would stick my palette knife in, point down, and just use whatever small amount of paint adhered to to knife) of reds, yellows, blues and purples. The only unblended Titanium White are six streaks that I threw unto the canvas from a container of Liquitex soft acrylic paint.

This took a lot more paint than I usually used, but the end result was worth it. I always wear headphones when I paint. This was almost all done to Mozart and Bach.