5 Minute Gesture, paint brush, ©ElishaDasenbrock2009

My favorite gesture by far.

3 minutes is almost too short for my style. The wet on wet technique that dominates my way of painting does not work well in such a short period of time. There’s no time to dry between layers and while everything blends together beautifully there’s no definition in the figures. 5 minutes however, at least when using just two colors is just right. We tried a six minute long pose and it took the spontaneity out of it.