I selected a 9X12 prepared gessoed panel and blocked in my darkest values using black gesso following the approach of the Svob book mentioned in an earlier post. After that dried I applied a wash of Burnt Sienna acrylic over the entire surface. I allowed that to dry before continuing and set out my palette of oil colors:
My palette consists of Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, and Transparent Brown (warm colors in top row) as well as Ivory Black (I'd been told never to use black), Winsor Violet (Dioxanine), French Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Viridian, and Titanium White (cool colors in second row). My palette is glass with a white paper underneath and a four-value scale slipped between for value comparison.
The photo shown on a LCD computer monitor serves as my reference. The photo is enhanced in the coloration, brightness and contrast using Adobe Photoshop CS4 since it is a "rejected" photo sent to me by my daughter. She sent me a number of photos to use for reference and the first group were photos she did not expect to print due to them not being up to her standards. I chose to use photos such as this as her photography is so good that I just want to frame her work and not paint it as it is already art itself. I just selected 18 of her photos for printing (12X18) and framing to hand in our home.
As I began painting in oil on the completely covered canvas board, I first painted the brightest color having already established my dark masses with the gesso and middle values with the burnt sienna acrylic. The first color I painted was the green grass in the pasture on the right followed by the yellows and oranges in the bank of trees on the right and the bright areas of sunlight on the road. Next I laid in the sky and began to lay in colors in the middle values followed by reestablishing some of the dark patterns that were either misplaced originally or that needed some local color modulation. Here is my "finished" color sketch which is much looser than my previous works.
I have "pushed" the hues and intensity of the colors to make the painting more dynamic. As a beginning on my journey to become a better painter, I am pleased with this color sketch as it is much looser and dynamic than my earler work, a few of which I've shown below for comparisson. This first attempt is more a painting than a copy of a photo and moving in the direction I desire to travel. It went pretty fast and was done alla prima entirely. It does not have the texture of paint application I was wanting as I had a tendancy to revert to my old manner of applying paint.
Below are a few of my paintings I did prior to 2000 which was the last time I painted before this journey began with this first color sketch done this past weekend.
In coming weeks I shall continue to paint even smaller (6X9 and 8X10) color sketches doing as many each day as I can accomplish to gain more freedom in execution and to develop my ability to see the subject as a painting with greater dynamics than the original and better design in composition and capturing the viewer's attention. By doing these small color sketches I hope to quit focusing on the details and see the painting in my mind I want to produce.
By the way, I have been encouraged by two fine artist friends of mine and would like to invite you visit their websites and see their work:
These are both accomplished, successful professional fine artists whose work I'm sure you'll enjoy.
Really nice color interpretation and looseness, Dad. I love it! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIn your minds eye. Way to go! You finally let go!
ReplyDeletei loved these! i'm glad you're painting again :) what a great gift
ReplyDeleteI really liked your painting and probably more the fact that you actually got started with your new direction. The composition of the colors was very good! Do you really want a critical eye? You know how I am about foreground and background. I would like to see a stark contrast in texture between the two. I think it would add depth. That's just my opinion. I'm just glad you're able to do it.
ReplyDeleteHi Dad! I hadn't realized how long you had been away from your painting. Do you think that distance allowed you to step back and head off in a completely different direction?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, my initial reaction to this painting was to immediately think, "That's the kind of painting that Alan and I would love and comment about to each other if we saw it in a gallery. Then I was curious what Alan would think, but without him knowing whose art it was, so I just sent him the jpeg and asked him what he thought. He said he liked it, it looked like the Fauvists, and it reminded him of a road we walked down when we visited y'all in Tyler for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. That was the perfect answer (and why I love that guy).
For me personally, as the person who took that picture and who has thought it would be cool to paint on prints of my photos using "not real" colors, but not knowing how, I can't tell you how delighted I am and how satisfying it is to see that scene become art. I mean I took that picture for a reason, but it was rather bland without your interpretation. You painted it like I wanted people to see it.
I love blue and orange--nowadays it seems like every show we watch, the scenes I will comment on have blue and orange near each other. For me, your color choices are wonderful. I really like the fact that the blue path winds around from the bottom left across to the top right corner to meet the blues of the sky which then curve back over to the top left, like a big stylized "7." (I don't know that I'm following that path the "right" way, but that's how it makes sense to me.)
My only "criticism" (and really, that feels like too strong a word) would be a couple of "muddy" looking areas in the grass. I add this with the hope that it won't make you question or second-guess what you did; it's just my opinion and kinda what I'd want from you if I requested your input. But I'm also fairly certain that those tiny issues would not keep Alan and me from looking for the price tag for that painting. It's really right up our alley--exactly the kind of thing we're drawn to and point out to each other when we get to experience art together. But it's always art by some stranger we have no connection with. This is so cool that we KNOW the artist.
Your painting is even more remarkable in the context of previous paintings you provide. Those are lovely and artistic, but so different. I don't understand how you get here from there. Did you just decide "This is how I'd like to paint this scene" and then do it?
That's just curiosity and not necessary for you to answer. I'm surprised and happy that after your hiatus you would come back and make this. I sure do hope you enjoyed the process and are pleased with the outcome, and that there will be more to follow. I'm still trying to learn how to see which photos are the right ones to send you. It's really fun.
I'm impressed and proud of your work and excited to show it to others.
I really appreciate the candid comments of those who view this blog. They continually help me to reflect, consider and address some things that I might not see and want to fix. Thanks to all who take the time to post a comment! You're very kind to do so.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am admittedly artistically illiterate when it comes to paintings, I am compelled to share my comments. I love the watercolor effect of the first painting. At first glance, I really did think it was a watercolor until I read how you painted it. It is mesmerizing in that I can imagine myself strolling down that old country road, smelling the sweet fragrance of flowers, listening to birds chattering in the trees and a soft breeze caressing my face. In a word, serene. How lovely it is!
ReplyDeleteThe second one with the sunset peeking through the trees in the meadow - it somehow stirs up a nostalgic memory of my childhood, a place perhaps where I once played. (Very nice painting).
The third one - now that one really reminds me of a place called Southpoint on the Big Island of Hawaii (known to be the most southern tip of the United States) - you look down over the volcanic cliffs and see the azure blue water calling upon you to "go ahead and jump in - the water's fine" but would only be to one's detriment. This is where my mother's ashes were scattered.
The painting with the sheep - how often I have commented to others about giving up the "rat race" and moving to New Zealand to become a sheep herder. Well, there you have it - you have captured that thought in this painting. (I'm sitting there in the background, chewing on a piece of grass with my old dog "Shep" sitting beside me knowing my sheep are well fed, well watered and, all is well with the world!