Buoy Dance 18" x 12"

"Buoy Dance" 18" x 12"

After having fulfilled many obligations (Art Lit with 1st graders & preparing my taxes) and having spent time organizing my work for the three upcoming shows, I finally finished this piece! Well at least for now it's finished. I will take this to my critique tomorrow and hopefully will get a thumbs up on it. I'd like to enter this one in the NPS Open International with hopes it gets in. This painting may look familiar from prior posts, that's because it is a larger format of the "Buoy Dance" that I painted at my Open Studio this past October. As with most of my posts, I have included the steps that I took to get to this point. Here they are....


First I start out with the garrish orange under painting of Createx paint. I used orange because it is the compliment color to what will be a predominately "blue" painting. Also, I lightly sketched in the composition with a pastel pencil.


Here is what I call the "ugly stage". Initially, I placed my brightest brights and my darkest darks to establish those values. Then I began placing my blue mid-tones in and around the painting.


At this point of the game, I'm beginning to see where I can inject color to liven up the comp. I'm playing with the water, the background and starting to place dabs of yellow where the brightest highlights will be.


Now I'm beginning to see the end, with still lots to do. I'm working quietly now, concentrating on the values, colors and reflections in the water. Here I've placed the brightest highlights on top of the yellow dabs and also notice the red buoys' reflection is now in the water. I'm really excited at this point and my painting sessions get longer. My...time flies when I'm having fun...


Slowing down here, I've softened the water, scumbling color over color to give it a sunset-like look. I'm really having fun with the wiggly lines in the water. Finished!
Giclee' print available online at Imagekind.

Shadow and Light 5" x 5"

Shadow and Light (to be titled later)

This dark and light piece will be one of my entries into the "Shadow & Light" show this coming Spring at Pittock Mansion. I first set out to paint a color study on oranges, but as one might wonder "how dark can orange get?" Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know. Probably not very dark, maybe a value of a 4 on the value scale. Hmmm. But, as I picked out my orange values and colors on the color wheel, and selected an image to work from, my "orange" intension went out the window! Ha! Window!
Anyway, this image fits well into the "Shadow & Light" prospectus theme. Below is a progress of the image.


First, my sketch.


An underpainting of Createx paint Deep Blue and a little dab of green on the plant.


The fancy love seat painted with dark burgundys and intense reds.


The walls/bookcase, details, checking values (lightened up the chair, illuminating the room more.)


The finished piece! A few adjustments are needed around the window area, but for now, this is it!

Color Study #7 6x6"

Color Study # 7

This next color study is a Triadic color scheme that is based on three colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel. I chose orange, purple and green simply because I love purple! The source photo is again from Wetcanvas' reference library from contributer "lisilk". I began with a complimentary underpainting of Createx pigment paint, and then applied the much confusing color story. It looks like a mess in the beginning stages, but soon evolves! I used a broken color application, letting the underpainting show through a bit, although I did lay it on a bit thick on the orange! I has a lot of texture only because I love this broken color method! I could smooth it out to make it more realistic, but I think that would ruin the bold color play.


The underpainting looks a bit crazy along with the sketch underneath. I mistakenly painted purple for the background underpainting when I should have used yellow! Ooops! Anyway, I put the purple pastel down first to hide my mistake.

Then I applied the darkest values and a few of the oranges. This is the "ugly" stage of the painting.

I continued to work on the orange. I began to add the greens to help bring it together along with using a lighter, brighter purple in the branches.

I continued to work on the greens, and on the orange peel.

Here is the finished image, again for comparison.

Color Study #6 6x6

Color Study #6

Well, after posting Color Study #5, I wasn't completely satisfied with the outcome of the split complimentary study, even though I really like the painting. So instead of moving forward with the Triadic study that I had intended, I attempted another Split-Complimentary study. This time I used the colors blue-green, red, and orange. This really works for me! And the color just POPS! I'm also including the process of how I did this study, with all the steps below. I used an under-painting of each particular color's compliment. Sound confusing? Yup, it is. But I am sure happy with this one definitely! Oh, and the reference photo that I painted this from comes from the image library on Wetcanvas by Fagan, called "Blue Plate Special"


First, I painted an underpainting of each color's compliment.....

then I began adding red for the table and establishing a bit of the blue-green plate.

adding highlights and shadows....

filling in the fruit with shades of oranges...

Finished painting!

Color Study #5

Color Study #5

This is color study #5 and I am thrilled with the outcome of this study! It is "supposed" to be a split complementary color study of Blue, Red-orange, and Yellow-orange, but I think it looks more like a regular complimentary study. My use of oranges was limited in the values and use of the orange compliments, but just the same I think it really pops! I also used a broken color method of applying the pastel, letting the underpainting of Red-orange show through the marks of blue. The source photo I took at the Pittock Mansion in Portland in the morning with cool blue lighting from a North facing window. Here are some comments from my WetCanvas friends on this piece. My next study will be on Triadic colors. Here is my palette: