Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Silver Springs Sunset - Final Painting

This painting is finally done after two weeks of working on it. The trees and reflections in the water are painted with transparent paints. The sky and reflections of the sky are opaque paints. In the above image, the trees are glazed with various shades of hansa yellow, olive green, sienna, sap green and shale.
In the above image here, I went back over the trees (after the initial glazing dried) and further defined the tree masses and reflections with thicker transparent paint - the same colors as above. But I also painted the darkest shadows with thin paint. The tree edges are also glazed in a warmer color than the sky - brown pink, hansa yellow and a touch of alizarin crimson.
Finally I added more glazes and made a few more adjustments to the background trees and water. This post is just a general overview of how I work. It's taken me quite a while to feel comfortable with this process, but I feel the time spent was well worth the effort.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Moving Right Along

Last week I showed the start of this painting done with a transparent underpainting. I wiped out the lights with a Viva paper towel. Since then, I've added a thin layer of indiathrone blue/white mixed with liquin. After that dried, I added a thin layer of naples yellow/white.
Here's yet another thin layer of brown pink/hansa yellow/white scumbled in various places on the painting. I'm building the layers of opaque paint in the sky and water first before I begin to touch the trees and reflections.
The above painting is a 12x12 study. It's almost finished, but not quite. There still needs to be some additional layers in the sky and water. But I thought I'd try to work on the study first, since it's more comfortable for me to work out the kinks on a smaller scale before moving larger to the 24x24.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

New Beginnings

I started this underpainting for a fairly large square format painting this week. It's 24x24. I've never painted a large square before. I think I'm going to like it. Starting a painting always gives the feeling of excitement. Kind of like going on a new adventure. I used Shale by Vasari, which is a rich, warm color with purple undertones. Anyone who has taken a class with Deborah Paris is familiar with this color because it's the workhorse of her color palette.


Here's the reference photo I'm using. I took this shot last summer while my husband, dog and I were walking the trails of Silver Springs Park. Of course, I manipulated the composition (artistic license). As I lay in various layers of opaque and transparent paint, I'll post my progress. But that might take a while, since every layer needs to dry before the next is applied.