THE BIRTH OF A PAINTING

I don't remember how this painting came to be.  I think a local gallery  asked for something that would demonstrate the process of developing a painting, from start to finish.  The subject is the Howard Pyle studio on Franklin Street in Wilmington Delaware.  I still have this piece tucked away in an old portfolio somewhere.  I think it measures approximately 16x45"

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo.

UPTIGHT VS. LAID BACK

Big Red St. clay drawing...aprox 14x28:

Because my attention span is so short...I rarely spend more than 15-30 minutes at one time working on a painting or drawing...I like to have 2 or more works in progress at the same time so I can move from one to the other (between reading and napping of course). For the past several days these 2 works have served that purpose.

The clay drawing above was done on a clay print I pulled from the storage bin, originally printed 6 or 7 years ago. The more I looked at it the easier it became to see a street scene in it. I'm now considering the possibility of one or more distant buildings on the left side of the image.

At the same time, I've been tending to my more anal needs working on the 2 pieces below, one is finished, the other still a WIP.


Columns & Arches WIP...watercolor...8x28




Columns & Arches I watercolor...8x28"

I also managed this small piece...clay drawing aprox. 4x10"

TWO WORKS IN PROGRESS

There is not much to see yet, but it is a start. The paintings are being done from photos from our time in Tuscany. The smaller one is from a photo my photographer son-in-law Bob took in Siena, the larger one is from photos we took over looking the village/winery of Fonterutoli where we stayed for one week. It is in the heart of Tuscany on the Chianti highway between Florence and Siena.

I will keep you posted on my progress, which I suspect will be a bit on the slow side.

OH SO SLOWLY

The pace has slowed considerably over the past few months. I suppose working on 3 or 4 paintings simultaneously has something to do with it. There are currently 2 acrylics and 2 large watercolors in progress.




Some of you may recognize William Penn atop Philadelphia's city hall poking up behind this stand of trees. When finished, it will be the second piece in the "Misplaced Philadelphia" series.



Also in progress, a 12x48" landscape which will eventually show an abandoned farm behind a field of high corn or wheat.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

I am working in the studio. A bit slowly perhaps, but working none the less. I have 2 more large (16x60") watercolors in progress as well as this 36x36 acrylic on canvas.



The color is a little off because of the dark foreground. I've decided it will be the second in the Philadelpia Misplaced series. My next post will be obvious to those of you who are familiar with the Philadelphia architecture.

ITS A START!

OK, I've dusted off the paint and brushes and am back to work. This piece is on a 36x36 canvas. So far all I have is one very warm sky. Hopefully I will know what will be basking in all this light by the end of the day. The foreground is also a mystery to me at this point...the eventual subject will influence that decision.

wip 48x48 #5

I'm not making any promises, but hopefully this will be the last time this painting will be posted as a WIP. My mind has already wandered over to the other side of the studio where I am preparing for my next big project...several Paducah streetscapes in watercolor. I will be working on Arches 300# rough wc paper, each painting on one half of a 40x60" sheet.





The painting on the bottom of the pile is a preliminary one done last year. It will be discarded after I salvage the measurements for its "do over".

WIP 48X48 Moving closer

to a finished painting. I've made it this far by the end of the day, and I'm pleased with the results.

WIP 48X48 #3

Slowly working my way down the canvas into the foreground. This is as far as got today.



detail...(with apologies for the quality of this pic)

WIP 48X48 #2

It is back to the big one. Having satisfied my need for things small,(and with no more small canvases or panels available) I rolled my chair across the studio to the easel. After looking at the work for several days I decided the colors and values needed to be altered before proceeding any further. Once that was done I began working on the distant and middle ground details.



This is as far as got at the end of the day, and I can see where
there is more work needed to define the contours in the plains. To refresh your memory, here is the first stage posted 5 days ago.

WIP 48X48

I started this piece by painting in the major color fields in order to establish the progression of values.



This "staging" also provides an opportunity to review the composition and colors and to make any necessary adjustments. The next step is to re-paint each area before moving on to what can be considered the details or points of interest,i.e. trees, tree lines, and shrubss. In the original photo, taken some 12 years ago while driving across Wyoming and Nebraska (I don't recall which state provided this image) there is a red barn tucked away in the middle of the plains. The red provides a nice bit of contrast to the image. Don't know yet if I'll use it.

FA GETTA BOUT IT!!!

It ain't gonna work, and no amount of trying will fix it. That was the conclusion I reached 2 days ago with this painting. It already had at least 3 do overs.


A disaster called the Brooklyn Bridge acrylic 24x48

So I painted the entire canvas with two coats of black gesso and started over.



I can already hear my friend Harvey saying..."what, another black sky! That will be mild compared to what he'll say when I add the treess and barns.

FYI...the sky and clouds were rendered with a wet paper towel. The foreground with a palette knife.

FINAL STAGE?

Yesterday's painting

I just could not leave like this. I wanted to darken the sky and put in some sign of human presence (don't ask me why.) and if it were a barn I would not be able to face my friend Harvey. The solution...fence posts! My friend karen suggested they be placed just below the horizon. I tested that with an acrylic overlay and liked what I saw. Today I'll have to decide if I want anything to break up the horizontal lower half. Hmmm...who can I ask about that?


Current state of affairs.

WIP...where are we going?

Yesterday morning I started with this.


The day ended with this. I was not pleased with either the composition or the colors and spent the day adding, subtracting, and eventually merging.

I don't know what today will bring; I don't think this is finished as it now stands.

THE THIRD BARN

I have been working on this piece since my last post 5 days ago. I thought it was finished this morning, but the more I look at it the more I see a few corrections to be made. This is the third in a series of abandoned barns on a farm in nearby Livingston County in western KY.

I will post a follow up pic after I make the changes, hopefully by tomorrow.


the Third Barn acrylic 36x36 $2500

Here is a follow up on a painting I posted a few weeks ago. I added just a few thin white lines to suggest surf

Surf acrylic 36x36 $2500