A Journey Worth Taking

An Idea
A painting begins with and idea or a fleeting image.  As we traveled through Pennsylvania, I came across a home nestled in the hills.  I was attracted to the neatly planted rows that followed the lines of hilly land.  It was so graceful.  I watched the clouds cast shadows across the distant hills and watched the sunlight dance through leaves and spill onto the roadway.  I soaked it all in.  This was home for me.  These hills in Pennsylvania.  I always enjoy the passing landscape.  I just had to paint it. 

So, snap some pics, plot it out and lay down some paint...The Painting Process





The Initial Critique
At this point in the painting, I need to iron out the composition.  Color and details will take care of themselves as we move on.  Movement in an image gives the eyes a path to follow through the painting but I need to make sure there is enough visual interest to make one WANT to move through the painting.  The paved road became a dirt road, a fence appeared and some elements were added to the hills in the back.  I know I need something at the bottom of the painting.  I am planning some interesting shadows.  I know that will work itself out as I go on.


Texture
Once I am pretty satisfied with the composition, I add some texture.  Adding random texture at this point gives me some new opportunities.  Sometimes it gets in my way and I fight with it. Other times it provides some happy accidents.  The texture sometimes determines where my branches will be, or where the bits of color in a field will become flowers.  Working with texture provides some magic!


Push and Pull
Here I alternate between plain gel medium (Heavy body) and gel medium mixed with paint and glazing medium.  I bounce between using a brush or palette knife.  Using a palette knife allows me to rake color across the raised areas leaving original color in the valleys.  Sometimes an area seems off in color or value and I apply glazes with a brush.  As the glazing medium gets caught next to ridges in the texture, it puddles and offers some cool effects!  Working this way allows me to keep changing the color and value until it feels right.  Sometimes I will deliberately throw in an unexpected color, just to get my brain unfrozen.  It is a way to get unstuck when I can't figure out what to do.


The Value of a critique
For this painting, I asked for a bit of input from artists and students.  Trained eyes and untrained eyes both offer meaningful direction.  I knew the painting was too "green" and earthy yellow.  It was a group of high school art students that suggested a color change on the house.  They even went so far as to pinpoint the EXACT red that was needed.  Another student suggested splashes of purple flowers.  An artist friend changed my ideas about my shadow colors in the row of trees surrounding the house.  All of it was worthwhile.  Collaboration makes things better.

I love it when art just happens.  I seldom have a rigid plan in mind when I start a painting.  I always get to a place where I think "this isn't going to work".  But it usually does end up working.  Sometimes I get a painting that has some good stuff, but not enough to be "sale worthy".    If I can get a few good moments in a painting, it is worth the journey in doing it.

A Tribute to a Dog 2

Just a couple of short videos

Update Jan 2018

It took a while, I had to set it aside for other projects.  I really struggled with this one as to how much of a background I wanted.  I finally decided that I needed some hint of a landscape as the tilted ground plane just made it so the dog would not stand up from it.  I tried different color experiments to get the dog to "advance" but I just couldn't get it to work.  So, I hinted at some background and it gave me the depth of field I needed. I am not sure but, I now think her snout is too long.  But, I had to get it off the easel.

Tribute to a Dog

      Maddie was my neighbor's dog.  She was a sweet old soul.  She would trot over to get some love in spite of the special collar that would gently remind her of boundaries.  Many mornings I would catch her peeking in my back door window.  She was gentle yet had a definite "presence" about her.  One day she had a lump and within a couple weeks she was gone.  I actually miss this dog and she wasn't even mine.  Her owner said she was special, and he felt a deep bond with her.  She loved trekking around the woods with him. He was lucky to have her, and she was lucky to have him.  He is a young man, engaged to be married to another dog lover.  He helps his mom and has cut down several trees for us over the past couple of years.  He has a wonderful cooking hobby, and we have benefited from this as well.  He brings us goodies for our parties.  Well, needless to say, he never wants anything in return.  So I have decided to paint him a portrait of his beloved Maddie.  I asked him for a photo and he sent one where her back was turned and she was looking intently at something in the distance. 

     I am often asked about my technique.  I always say that it starts with a well developed under-painting.  This is where the thinking begins.  I take a few things from the photo that I love.  The way that the shadows break up the space and make that dynamic "X" composition.  I knew I didn't want her to be central but I did want some empty space around her.  I wanted the canvas to be large enough to pay homage to this sweet girl, but not so large that it demanded a prominent spot in the home.  Size matters.  And mood.  I definitely want to keep that far away look, and the way the light hits her chest and legs.  After much thought, I end up with my under-painting that maps out my initial decision about composition and mood.

     Next I start adding texture by adding a layer of clear gel medium.  I apply it with a palette knife. In the next layers I begin experimenting with color by raking color over the bumps created by the now dry gel medium.  At this point I am not thinking too much about color combinations.  I am simply thinking in terms of warm and cool colors.  I am also trying to decide how much I want to include in terms of details.  Should I keep the background ambiguous?  Or add a detailed backdrop?

     So I move on to the dog for a while, adding in more detail to his markings.  All the while I am working with glazing medium and gel mediums, sometimes mixed with paint and sometimes just layers of medium to alter texture.

     For now, the dog is black and white (and Payne's Grey).  I know I need to add some other colors into the dog, but I need to resolve my thoughts on the background.  For now, I have decided that the background is too "fantasy" and a bit cliche.  I know I want to add a more earthly feel.  

Stay tuned.

     As you can see, this process allows the painting to evolve.  It allows me to change my mind and gives me space to think.  The result is that you can see bits of color peeking through the layers beneath.  It creates a visual texture as well as a tactile one.  But more importantly, it speaks to both the tedium and the spontaneity of the creative process.