A painter looks back - a slow painting process film by Tor-Arne Moen

In 2013 I painted a work titled “A Painter Looks Back.” By that time I had been painting for many years, moving through many different styles, motifs, and themes. I felt the need to create a more complex painting that brought together elements from some of my earlier works. I was curious to see whether there might be a connection between the different periods of my work, and while painting I felt that such a connection did begin to appear. This film has been on my YouTube channel for many years. I have now revisited it and made a new version. The original music, which I felt had become somewhat distracting, has been removed. Instead, the film is accompanied only by the natural sounds of the studio that occurred while I was working. I have also extended several scenes that previously felt too brief. As a result, the film is now six minutes longer than the original and has gained a calmer, more contemplative rhythm. At the beginning of the film you can see that I am painting over an earlier work. This is something I often do when I am not fully satisfied with a painting. When a new image grows out of an earlier one, it sometimes inherits a certain strength or energy from the previous painting in unexpected ways. The overpainting was done about half a year before the new painting was completed. The long interval is due to the materials I use. I work with oil paint and egg-oil tempera applied in thick layers, both of which require a very long drying time. If I want to draw with charcoal on a painted surface, the paint must be allowed to dry for at least six months—preferably longer. #art #notodden #painting #contemporaryart #oilpainting #slowpainting #norwegianpaintings #slowcontent #traditionalart #fineart #artstudio #relaxingart #slowart #calmpainting #artprocess #allaprima #impastopainting #artistinstudio