Alla Prima Exercises

Alla Prima comes from Italian, literally meaning "at once". Alla Prima is a rapid working style of painting where you should finish the painting in one sitting. You do not build up layers or use glazes, the painting is completed while the paint is still wet. It is a more direct, expressive style, with minimal preparation although I did use paint to quickly paint-sketch in lines first so I knew where I was painting what. Typically this method would be used with oils because oils dry more slowly allowing more time to work. Because I work in acrylics I added a drying retarder to the mix - it helped a little bit, but it is still a race against time to get it to work before it dries!

Because I was waiting for them to be marked and results posted, I havent finished posting my paintings from last Study period, so here I go trying to catch up!

These 4 works go along with my others on the theme of the state of work and play within schools, interaction between students and teachers - teachers as workers, students at work and play. I'm not a great fan of working like this strictly speaking in one sitting and before it dries. But it did make me not fuss over things so much - even while filled with angst over each brushstroke not being right hehehe.

I'm still finding my feet with painting and needing much more practice!