I can’t recall when I painted “Tears”.   I chose a large canvas about 30″ x 36″ or something similar.  I probably laid down a coat of black Gesso first (I like a black undercoat), though I may have left the canvas white.  I wanted to bring out the color like Van Gogh did, so I used medium to high tones of contrasting colors.  I used a blue background to bring out depth, because blue is usually associated with distance.  I believe I kept that texture smooth (I don’t know where the painting is now, maybe still in Corpus Christi), so that no details would be outstanding and would bring out the depth more0.  I used a yellow to contrast with the blue and because yellow is normally associated with being closer.  I textured the figure with a palette knife to contrast with the smoothness of the blue and to bring the figure closer by adding detail.   Overall, I wanted to keep details to a minimum in order to accent the man idea of a man crying copiously.   I made the tears by stringing light blue house paint from a distance of a few inches (the closer one strings paint, the more control one has over it).  I wished later that I had made the tears the same color as the background, because the ones over his chest disappear into the yellow, being of a similar tone.  I am not good at drawing or sketching yet, so that’s another reason I tried to keep the details to a minimum.   All in all though, I wanted to make an emotional connection to the viewer by simply showing a man shedding copious tears.

Thoughts?  Comments?