Dream Time, 18x24 inches oil on canvas panel by Kenney Mencher

 Dream Time, 18x24 inches oil on canvas panel by Kenney Mencher $600

Although this is probably considered a wet into wet or ala prima painting, roughly defined as a all at one time painted very immediately and/or quickly, this painting was still a little bit more "modern" in how I handled the paint texture and the color in it. If you look at the background you'll see that the paint is literally troweled on with plastering knives so that it stands up in rough peaks and has a bit more texture to it. The figure is painted with hogs hair bristle brushes and if you look closely you can see a lot of the textures and direction of the brush marks. The calligraphy and brush mark is actually sort of planned on my part in an attempt to create a sense of volume and to show the direction that the planes are going. In essence the brush marks are designed to describe the anatomy in a kind of physical way.

The color in the painting both on the figure and especially in the background is an attempt to show an alternation between warm and cool tones. Cool tones are usually associated with colors like blue and green, colors associated with water. While the warm tones are colors that have more yellows and oranges in that are associated with fire or the sun. As things move away from the light I tried to cool colors off a little bit more and as they get closer to the light source they generally have more oranges and yellows in them in an attempt to show the intensity of the light. These are some of the most basic lessons that I learned about painting as early as elementary school when my mom would drop me off for weekend and summer programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art. By high school, I had moved back to New York and lived in the Bronx with my father and his new family where I attended the High School of Art and Design. I got quite the education in high school.