Acrylic on panel, 96”w x 48”h
Currently on exhibit at 14 Cedar Street in Amesbury, MA.
Escondido is one of the pieces where I use a layering process. I lay down different colors as the base of the painting and then bring in a new color that can be brushed or scraped.
Then, I paint an additional color or two, usually with a scraper to cover some of the first layer, the base colors I'd put down. And you start to see things you want to keep and things you want to cover, or maybe apply a second or third layering over some or all the canvas.
In this case, I felt like with the layer I had; I had what I wanted.
Escondido means hidden in Spanish. And that's what it looks like here because you have a dark foreground. And the more vivid colors that are the base colors are tucked away. So it shows a life going on beyond the trees or something beyond some foliage.
But because it's behind this foliage, it's hidden, you know?
Escondido is a large-scale painting. At 4ft x 8ft, it's the largest I have. And it's one I created on a Masonite panel mounted on stretchers or a frame I had a cabinet maker construct. So it's very well made.
After I finished the painting, I realized that if I worked on anything that large, I should do it on canvas because with this one, the size is manageable, but anything larger would be too heavy.
Writing about Escondido also makes me realize I'm itching to do something large-scale, maybe twice that size.