Work in progress - barn

Work in progress

I tend to feel a bit awkward when posting pictures of a work-in-progress - it's like catching the painting without its bathrobe on. I'm trying to get over that, though, so that I can be more open with my paintings and share my process on this blog, as well as the finished pieces.

The barn's texture is there, although it's hard to see in this photo. If you enlarge it, you'll notice that I've scratched the palette knife across the semi-tacky paint of the barn to produce the effect of wood siding. It's now ready for me to go in with a brush and create the shadows and highlights - I'm mostly just accentuating the troughs and ridges of the impasto layer. Then color washes will be added to create a weathered appearance. The foreground needs lots of love, as do the trees, etc.

Work in progress and music

This painting is in its infancy and still needs a lot of work, but I thought I'd go ahead and post it in its awkward adolescent stage anyway.

I also want to share some music with you. I have a select assortment of albums that I listen to repeatedly while in the studio. For some reason, the prog-rock/new-agey stuff really seems to be conducive to painting for me. I'm a die-hard Beatles fan, but I've found that they don't really work as my painting soundtrack. So here's my top 5 list of albums that are on rotation in my studio:

1. Phil Collins - Hits

I've mentioned before that almost any creative block I have can be fixed by a little Phil Collins. I have no idea why. Maybe it's because of songs like this that fill my soul.

2. Genesis - Turn It On Again

This could really be lumped into the Phil Collins category, of course.

3. Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Pink Floyd is my #2 band of all time. I know a lot of people aren't into the David Gilmour-period of the band, but I absolutely love it. His voice is amazing and his guitar playing still surpasses any other, in my mind.

4. Storyhill - Storyhill

This is the previously-mentioned acoustic folk-rock duo from Montana. I love them. Their music provides the perfect soundtrack to the Montana scenes I paint.

5. Joni Mitchell - Clouds

I love Joni. Love love love her. She's brilliant and resides in my all-time top 5 bands/musicians. She's also an accomplished painter - talk about being multi-talented.

And a bonus 6th... Brian Crain - A Simple Life

I came across Brian Crain at an arts fair in Coeur d'Alene, ID and fell in love with his music. He's a pianist and writes such sweet melodies.

Work in progress 5

(wip1 / wip 2 / wip 3 / wip 4)

These are the last two work-in-progress photos. I added more washes to the river, put in the little islets & foregrounds with palette knives, and brightened the details with brushwork.

Work in progress 4

(wip 1 / wip 2 / wip 3)

Here's the river! I layered a glossy gel on top of the paint and followed that up with a matte gel wash to soften the gloss a bit - but it still gives off a shimmery effect underneath the matte wash. The yellowish paint has more of that fun iridescent gold paint mixed in, too. The river looks a bit goofy at the moment because I still need to paint the bank in the foreground and an isthmus in the middle.

Work in progress 3

(backtrack to: wip 1 / wip 2)

The cliffs are no longer bald! I've added trees and shrubs, some of which are still floating out in the ether, but they'll be grounded soon. I painted some of the shrubs by loading a palette knife with paint and scraping it against the textured "rock" - the texture broke the green paint up into natural-looking foliage.

I also brightened the cliff faces with more color washes. The subtle iridescent gold paint that I mixed in with the other colors doesn't want to show up in photos - but in the right light, it gives a little bit of glimmer to the sandstone cliffs.

In other news, I've started a Facebook business page for my art...if you're a member of Facebook, you should join as a fan to follow updates! :)

Work in progress 2

This is an unfortunately blurry photo taken after applying the impasto base layer of the cliffs with palette knives...

...and here are the cliffs after several color washes and some detail brushwork. The detail work, for the most part, consists of emphasizing ridges and crevices that were already sort of "sculpted" in the impasto layer. I'm doing a lot of color washes with this one since I want the cliffs to glow (the color in this photo turned out muted, but it still has a ways to go anyway). I'm even trying out a shimmery metallic gold paint from Golden, which I'm mixing in small amounts with my regular heavy-bodied acrylics for washes.

I decided to try documenting the progress of a painting in preparation for a demonstration in May. An art club in Sumner, WA has asked me to demonstrate my technique for them, so I figured that these "work in progress" posts would be helpful practice. I think I'll have to bring several pieces at various stages of completion in order to show all the stages I go through...kind of like on a cooking show.

P.S. Click on the photos for larger versions...the texture shows up much better in the bigger pictures.

Work in progress

I thought it would be fun to show a work in progress. I should have taken a photo before I softened up the impasto sky with a brush, but oh well.

On a completely random note, I now prefer the UK Office series to the US one...the recent US seasons, which are mostly full of bit jokes and one-liners, are actually starting to tarnish the series for me. The UK one may make me squirm more, but it seems to tell a full story much better.