Eric Fortune Interview on TAC

Eric Fortune was just interviewed on The Art Collectors. A very insightful look into his work...read on:

via TAC blog:

It’s not every day we spotlight a new artist, but Eric Fortune is eminently worthy of mention. In the recent past, Eric has been making excellent forward progress with his fine art career. With contributions to shows in several galleries, his most substantial offering to date is now up at LeBasse Projects, in a sold-out exhibition entitled “Lost In Light”. His renditions are sublime, with extremely adroit technique - products of an arduous process. We interviewed Eric about the present moment in his art and much more. Read on for our exchange with one of our favorite new voices:

Your technique appears very time-consuming. Can you explain your process?

Well, the technique is very time consuming. But there is a process that takes place before I even consider picking up the brush. First of all I need a good idea or concept. A good sketch. Once I have that I’ll do quick value/color studies to try and figure out a basic direction of where I want to take the image. Then there is reference. For a lot of background ref I just look online. For my figures I use friends and family because of easy access and they’re cheap After loosely transferring the sketch onto the watercolor paper I use my reference and apply the information in the photo while trying to retain the freshness and style of my original drawing.

I paint with acrylics watered down with…..water. I apply it in very thin washes, in a very watercolor based technique with some glazing and some scumbling here and there. Early in the painting I tend to do large wet on wet washes to establish a general tone and value in the piece. It takes many layers of paint to build up the desired affect. If I make a mistake and have to paint over an area the opaque acrylic looks very different from the rest of the transparent washes. So I have to be very careful. I’m still playing around with how much opaque paint I may want to have in the future. I try to plan out most of the painting. However, I also try to leave room for some spontaneity.

For the rest of the interview visit: TAC

or to view Eric's current show @ LeBasse Projects visit here.