right in front of my eyes, but I don’t see it,” she
says. “Th is has parallels in my painting. It might
explain why it takes weeks for me to fi gure out
what something looks like when other painters
can see it and paint it right away.”
A PROCESS OF CONSTANT
ADJUSTMENTS How does Kehoe approach
a painting? Th e fi rst thing to understand is
how small her works are, as tiny as 4x6 inches,
although Kehoe commonly paints on 6x6 or 8x8
linen mounted on panel. Th e small size allows
her to take in the whole painting at a single
glance and make alterations easily. Reduced
scale forces an intimate relationship between
the viewer and the painting. “Th e paintings
don’t scream at you,” she says, “but they invite
(require) your attention.”
She sets up her easel so that the subject
and the panel are as close to one another as
possible and develops her composition with the
help of a viewfi nder. She then makes a series
of thumbnail drawings, working with slight
variations until she feels she has explored all the
compositional options. She might create one or
two more sustained drawings after that. Th is
drawing process could take several days.
When the actual painting begins, she again
starts with a drawing, this time using kolinsky
sable brights and thinned paint directly on her
painting surface. “A drawing that’s more or less
accurate starts me in a better place,” says Kehoe.
“I sometimes lose the drawing after painting
over it for a while but, since I’ve already ‘solved’
the drawing, it’s easier to fi nd it again when the
painting goes south.”
Kehoe then begins applying color in the
background, squinting to better discern the
range of values. She applies the fi rst color thinly
and is constantly adjusting new additions of
color in relation to those previously applied. She
LEFT TOP: In Window Inferno (oil on
panel, 10x8), afternoon sun streams
through a window as if seen through a
Cubist lens.LEFT BOTTOM: Circles and a yellow glove
appear to fl oat in the upper area of
Zero G (oil on panel, 10x10).OPPOSITE: A ready-made still life
encountered by the artist in her
basement, Dutch Angle (oil on panel,
12x12) derives its name from a term
that describes a photo taken at an angle.DECEMBER 2016 39
36_tam1216Kehoe.indd 39 9/22/16 8:33 AM