Painting REALLY Large

I have a student this week who thinks a 16x20 canvas is small. He paints canvases that are in the "feet" range. Yesterday, he painted a 3'x3', and as I write this, he is still on-location working on a 3'x4'. It takes him five or six hours. Here's a picture of him painting at Red Rock Crossing.

I don't think I'll go quite that large. Some of the issues with "supersizing" your work include: finding a palette big enough for mixing, storing wet paintings and, of course, shipping wet paintings. For me, a 12x16 or 16x20 is plenty big.

My other student is also painting big paintings. The last time he workshopped with me, he used a little, 6x8 box made by artist Ben Haggett. (Ben makes really nice boxes that employ industrial-strength magnets to keep the boxes closed during travel. Visit his site at www.allaprimapochade.com.) This time, he's working with a 12x16 Haggett box.

I've made four paintings this week: two 12x16s and a 12x24. I'm very pleased with the extra room these sizes give me to work in. The paintings are pictured below.

"Secret Mountain Wilderness"
12x16, oil

at Windrush Gallery

"Munds Wagon Trail"
12x24, oil

"Young Sycamore"
16x12, oil
at Windrush Gallery