Layering has long been important in my painting process. It’s a simple notion: on day one, I paint the first layer; on day 2, I paint on top of the first layer; on day 3, I paint on top of the second layer; at some point, the layers, what’s hidden and what’s revealed, form a composition that satisfies, and the painting is finished.
Of course, it is much more complicated, and more contingent, than that.
I paint with acrylics, which means that layers dry fast. On top of acrylic paint or ink, one can layer oil paint, oil sticks, graphite, pencil, pastels, acrylic markers, more paint. A layer of paint over paint can be scumbled (applied very dry) or glazed/washed (very wet). Layering the same colour intensifies the hue; layering another colour changes it.
Through the fence, Lynne Cameron, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100cm
A layer of water on top of fresh paint, sprayed or dripped, will remove some of the paint and leave intriguing forms in the fresh paint and views into the next layer down.
As well as layers of paint, materials can be layered. I use a layer of ripped paper to give a textured surface to paint on. Marks can be layered, with lines on or under solid colour. In the Other People paintings, there are words written on the ripped paper, adding another visual layer, and graphite and charcoal on top of the paint (see top of post).
Art critic Harold Rosenberg described American expressionists as treating the paper or canvas as “an arena in which to act” rather than a window on to reality. Layering in abstract painting adds timescale, offers the viewer an archaeology of that action. A painting becomes layered with memories and meanings.
Built on risk and resilience, Lynne Cameron, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100cm