Creating large Scale Paintings and The 7 “P”s
by Charles Muench
“Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”
This old Army adage holds true when endeavoring to create large paintings. A minor compositional error will go mostly unnoticed on a 9” x 12” canvas. Enlarge that same error on a 36” x 48” canvas and you have a major problem obvious to everyone. The key to creating successful large paintings is to simply slow down. Small plein air paintings are like 100 yard dashes, you are relying on sheer adrenaline to get you through the race. A big painting requires the pace of a marathon runner, even and measured. Before begin a large painting you should ask the following question:
“Does my subject matter demand a large canvas?”
I have painted many small studies in the field and later determined that I had expressed all that needed to be said in 10” x 12” inches. But, most of the time I want to expand and develop the theme I started in the field. Once I make the decision to create a studio painting from my field study, I ask myself:
“What size does this painting need to be?”
Not all paintings will work on a grand scale. For some, 24” x 30” will fit the bill. This is determined by a combination of my emotional reaction to the subject matter and its compositional elements. Bigger is not always better! But, when I determine that the subject needs to be expressed in a large format, I remind myself of the 7 “P”’s. Below is an illustrated description of this process.
Here I am mining the inspiration for my painting from its source at around 9,500ft in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. This study will be the keystone to creating a successful large scale painting. In working from life, I have already made significant compositional decisions as well as added further understanding to my visual knowledge.
Here is my studio set up with photo reference and a well developed “study” on the left. In this study (16” x 20”), I elaborated on the field painting- experimenting with various compositional elements while maintaining the veracity of the original field sketch. On the large canvas (40”x 50”), I worked out basic delineation of shape, value, and rhythms in thin washes of paint.
After massing in the large shapes of the painting, I determined that it would have a more dramatic impact if I increased the scale of the mountain. Even after all my planning, I still found crucial aspects to the painting that needed improvement. Because of all this prior planning and preparation, these changes could be easily made. Imagine coming to this realization after the painting was finished and signed! What a pain in the…well, you get the idea.
“Banner Peak”
40” x 50”
Oil on Linen
Here is the finished painting. Because I worked out most of the compositional elements in the early stages (following the 7 “P”’s,) I was free to sling paint with abandon- focusing on subtleties color temperature and paint quality, while relatively confident that the over all design- the large shapes and values, would create a satisfying composition.
This painting, along with many others, will be on display during my
One Man Show at:
Galerie Gabrie
April 29th - May 31st
WWW.GABRIE.COM
Please visit my website:
WWW.CHARLESMUENCH.COM
