Finished- Long Slide Falls 28"x 22" oil on linen

Callin' er done I think...

Today I wrestled with the water...bit more shadows on the left, and at the whitewater applied a good amount of white pigment.

Learned some time ago...that if you want a pigment to appear its brightest, best to use a paint knife and lay it on thick and flat.  The minute ruts left behind of a bristle brush actually invites the play of shadows each rut casts upon another...and a color appears a tad dull.  So, I applied the pigment quite heavy...smooth with the paint knife, but where I think the eye should pick up on more turbulence of the water...I mixed up another batch of white pigment, used a wide bristle...and laid in very thick strokes...

Here is a smaller view, as if standing 4-5 paces back...(and all images clicked on show up bigger)

4th Session...Long Slide Falls...28"x 22" oil on linen

Perked up the chroma intensity of purer pigments, warmer in color temperature along the upper right foliage and rock faces.  Deepened the values of water in shadow just a bit more...and brought the more center/right rock to a greater rendered finishing...

This area is left to be more abstract, looser in brushwork...a tease on the eye...but being less finished than the other rock by virtue of compare and contrast, is designed peripherally to call less attention to itself.  A fun thing really when you consider how front and center the rock is.

Also...breaking a fundamental rule in the landscape where purer color, darker darks, crisp edges should all define that which is closer...opting to trust the peripheral pan of the work by the eye to find the interest in the area above...or, this area more-

I'll look it over for a few days now before deciding if it satisfies what I set out to do...

On the same subject...I labored to put a good explanation together on the direction I'm trying to push as a painter, sharing examples of some fine painters, their influence and inspiration...as well as a few examples how I'm taking such things to experiment with the landscape...here is the detailed post taken from a thread of mine at Wetcanvas.com

Starting a new one, Long Slide Falls..28"x 22" oil on linen

Starting a possible entree for OPA...allowed to use any works within last three years, but if someone asks me, "what's your best painting" my canned answer is, "my next one!"  and...I can't help but believe most my peers probably feel that way.  Pushing ourselves for more, expecting more...reaching just outside of ourselves with a taste of what is possible...

Using a past plein air as reference and study...

 

Painted at Long Slide falls of the Pembonwon River in NE Wisconsin...a favorite place to paint, bring hearty workshop students...

Using this, and a couple reference photos taken my last workshop time there this past summer-

 

So...started by building my own gallery wrap style stretcher frames, then stretching oil primed linen...and applied a tone of quinacridone red, cad lemon yellow, touch of black...copal medium and turps.  Immediately using a rag to wipe out the sky, light hitting rocks and water...

..and couldn't call it a day without at least starting to get some values goin' in this one,

Will update posts as this develops...

Access Road Oil 24"x 48" Sixth Session

Well...the annual deer gun season here in Wisconsin
behind now, and my attention turns once again back to
painting. Took some time to take this one further
tonight..


...and a closeup...

Oil Portrait of my wife...our early years.

28"x 22" oil on board...

I've been working on a portrait involving scraping back the
flesh next day after painting, which leaves a film residue.
You keep repainting and rescraping back to slowly build a
quality into the flesh that glows and appears more flawless,
then upon the last repaint session, you apply finishing touches
that give the work an appearance of alla prima, a fresh and
spontaneous look.

Things I've been learning from "Painting Methods of the
Impressionists" by Bernard Dunstan...attributed methods of
Sargent, Degas, Manet, Cassatt and Whistler...

This close up of the face represents the 4th repaint...and I'm
happy with the way it is progressing, and will let this one
remain without a fifth scrape back. I'll post the whole work
when finished...












Note the steps of each repaint...to paint a midvalue flesh color
and block in the face area, then painting the darks and lights
directly into the midvalue wet into wet...
click on images to see larger...


With some of the questions people have, I'll explain this process a
bit more, and I DO NOT claim to be an expert of this. It is something
I am building some familiarity and expertise with by experimenting.

My fortee has been painting outdoor subjects, landscapes, wildlife
but I have done my share of "sporting portraits" over the years.

Follow that link to see a blog I only share with folks interested in that
aspect of my artistic offerings.

But...the basic alla prima approach can be demonstrated by my
showing a composite of my own self-portrait. That which can be done
in one sitting...(ie., "alla prima")-






















A few lines to suggest the head, a mix of a midvalue color
for the face blocked in...and darks and lights painted
wet in wet to finish. This as I read was one of Sargent's
common alla prima method.

Reading Bernard Dunstan's book, "Painting Methods of the
Impressionists" I discovered that Sargent would apply such
wonderful finishing alla prima-like touches of paint, that
no one would guess it to have been labored and wrestled with,
keeping that fresh spontaneity. There is the genius and
mastery IMO...

The scraping back was a common practice, as I found utlized
by Cassatt...at times Degas, Whistler...and Sargent. Each
scraping back allows a residue of what was painted to build
into a lovely rendering of color. As the face builds thru
this scraping back, you then more judiciously decide what to
add paint to in future sessions, less and less until the final
alla prima-like finishing touches.

Here...you see my wife's portrait after its third scraping,
and you can see that the residue of paint film left behind
is revealing the building up of a portrait. Imagine then a
good six or eight such repaint sessions and how you can
eventually paint more transparently...or judiciously, leading
up to an ideal quality of the skin-























The painting I did of my grand daughter, Isabeau...has a half-
dozen separate scrape backs-






















Now...agree with what has been written or not, how I am
interpreting the description of the process...I am finding this
to be a no brainer way to eventually arrive at the ideal and
lovely portrait. The flesh appears to glow...and the final
strokes of paint you leave are not incidental or accidental,
but intended. Appearing quite fresh and spontaneous.

But...I must be honest and report that psychologically, this
is brutal. Most difficult to commit to painting with such
great effort each time aiming to improve and do even better
knowing you will be scraping it out. For me, I waited 'til
the next morning. It was painful...but, after several sessions
you begin to see what comes and it becomes consoling and
encouraging.

As for the depiction of men...the less than ideal flesh tone,
surface texture, the blemish free feminine quality..is not
necessary. Painting the effects of gravity, a rough life on
the face is fun...and requires less doctoring and attention.
So...from what I read, less scraping back was required.
However with regard to fine ladies, young children and so
forth...the flawlessness and purity of the flesh is one of the
finer details the portrait must capture.

Winter Tree Turkeys- Oil Painting 40"x 50"

Well...I think after today, this baby is really pretty much about
done. A touch up of edges, some minor work in the midground
tree area...but, I already put my name to it, so...pretty happy
with where its at.

I believe it took me about the same amount of time to sketch
up my turkeys, (which I used to paint from) as the painting end
of it itself.

here's the sketches....and the paintings. Each image clicked on
will bring up a much larger image...








































40"x 50" oil
Buy a giclee print of this work at Imagekind!

Ready for the bird...

Well...brought the landscape part of this painting as
far as I think I want to bring it for now. Will let dry,
and then start cutting out newsprint mock-ups of
ruffed grouse in flight to study possible compositions,
poses, character.

I have a half-dozen sketch books of various wildlife
studies, and refer to those old sketches for ideas of
ruffed grouse.

I DON'T just copy old sketches, but use them to refresh
my understanding, knock cobwebs off my memory, and
redraw many many more. This gives me a sense of
possibilities.

I build them up with rectangles to represent the body,
then imagine the rectangles in various points of
perspective. To this I go thru the process of adding
body parts and considerations to feel right to my
understanding of the bird....here, some examples...

The Watching Warden... 30"x 40" now done...

After the fifth day...the values and color are now
where I want, representing that late afternoon time in the
fall. Strikes me so odd that a painting can takes five days
to finish. After painting 200 to 300 hours on a single
painting to complete for near 17 years, I've become
used to 1-1/2 to 3 hours to paint a plein air alla prima, start
to finish over the past twelve hours. This painting felt like
it was taking forever!!! hahaaa...

I add a couple more ducks as well...and feels pretty good
all in all...

Gettn' Prit Near Done!

Arrived home from a weekend in Green Bay this
afternoon and beat a path to the art room to work.
Must have this finished by this weekend...and
hoping it will for the most part be dry.

My concern as I worked on this was to soften some
of the edges of simple brushwork suggesting the
background. Edges read as details and as I was
finding quite plainly, competes with the edges and
details of the ducks themselves. So I softened areas,
finished much of the ducks...the sky and brought the
water to a near finishing as well...














a close up-

Mallards in Flight Painting -donation to Ruffed Grouse Society

I started a 19"x 29" heavy canvas stretched oil painting
for my piece to be donated for auction at this year's
Ruffed Grouse Society; once more honored as their
guest host artist.

I began with paper mock ups drawn of the ducks which
I temporarily taped onto the canvas...then used turps,
copal and mud/neutral pigment to sketch out..


















then, I mixed up a large batch of the mud gray neutral
at midgray value, and blocked in the masses, then wet
into wet would work lighter and darker values as well
as color into it...
















Here then, after my first day into this is where I
end this session. Feeling I got a lot of this off to
a good start....

Signed it...Callin' it Done- Fumee Falls

The thinking behind the Madness! haa..Fumee Falls

Funny...in studio, my mind has been absorbed with
possibilities. Possibilities that when I am painting outdoors
on location seem naturally to come on the fly and without
issues.

Working on this piece has been fun, and I've learned a
few things...but from the other night to last night, I gave a
more critical look at the composition and how I might take
the viewer's eye to work thru the piece a bit better.

Taking my painting from the other night, I have converted it
to grayscale and lightened it to show graphics for you...and
the eye basically enters from the lower left, goes up the falls,
but then goes where???

















So, I decided I needed to bring warmth and lighter values
(read that.."attention" ) to the overhang rocks of the left
thus deepening shadows of the smaller part of the falls in
shadow, and leading the eye away slightly from the main
falls...here, a graphic showing that thinking...and how I
believe the eye is not enabled to flow...


















So, with that in mind here then is the work after last nights
adjustments, as well as a closeup of that area to see effects
texturally...

A bit more...Fumee Falls in Oils

Didn't get too much done today...but this seems one of
those paintings where the little done proves itself to be
much.

I'd paint a bit...walk back and study to see it and plot the
next paint stroke.

















Since this one is in studio and somewhat an experiment,
I sense a couple directions this could go. I could allow
a narrower passage or focal point to be painted and
finished to a high degree of realism, and then let the
work slowly diminish and fade into the undertone on
the sides...

...or I could bring the whole painting to a point of
attention to suggestive detail and rendering. At this
point, I'm inclining more toward the first idea...but we'll
see how this one plays out.

Landscape Painting- Fumee Falls...Iron Mtn, Michigan

I will share some steps in this next one I started this
afternoon, using a photo reference I took yesterday
while my wife and I were in upper Michigan. I had
wanted to return today to paint on location, but the
weather kinda stunk, so I decided to get an in studio
work going on it while it was still fresh in my mind.

I began by texturing my stretched canvas...you can see
the texture here...after toned...

















here a couple examples closeup after my painting
session today, you can see how the paint rides over
the texture/tones...

































and here is where its at as of the end of the first
session today....

30"x 36" oil on stretched canvas

Callin' it Finished....Anutha' mood of Strong Falls

callin' it done...40"x 48" oil

Nutha Day on Strong Falls- Oil

Found a bit (though short) more time to
work on this for myself. This here and
there chance working is a bit new for me
of late. My methods are more alla prima
(all in one session)...but its been kind
of interesting pouring myself into
something a bit larger and demanding of
time...

for your interest, here is a time lapse
YouTube video of this painting start to
finish. Enjoy!!!

Oil Painting Upper Strong Falls...waterfalls landscape

This is the makings of a short video...
for plans to host online in short sections,
and a time lapse version for YouTube and
Google...

I first wrapped aluminum foil around some foam
core board, and propped it up with lights to bounce
light into the painting and palette area for hopefully
more idea lighting for filming. Learning bit by bit..




















This then was the stopping point to end the first session
both for filming and painting. Set-up was to apply a
reddish undertone and use a split-complementary palette
of bluish-violet, orange and yellow...black plus white.

40x50 oil Waterfalls Painting- Strong Falls- done!

To see this work larger-
(Click Here)

40"x 50" oil

Well...I've arrived at that time when an
artist should look behind him to see if his
partner has that large mallet raised.

See, it takes two persons to make a good
painting...one, the artist to paint...and two,
someone to stand there with a mallet and
hit the artist over the head before he
ruins it.

Some ask...how do you know when you're
finished with the painting? ...and you rub
your head feeling no lumps, pinch yourself
and indeed you're still alive. "Gee...not
rightly sure!"

I'm itching already to do another...but now
I've got to resolve this cutting of my stretcher
frame issue. I need to invest in a left tilt
table saw to cut more 2"x 4"s lengthwise in
a cross diagonal. Makes a great strong
stretcher frame for large works.

I have a few larger Fredrix stretcher frames
but they'll need special bracing. Not too keen
on those.

Well...thanks to everyone that followed along
on this one.

Oh...and mentioned in responding to a comment
the other that one part of the painting had
bothered me...wasn't able at the time to quite
put my finger on it...but I know now, and
really it was quite simple.

This painting evolved with cools representing
more the light, though yes there are warm
areas...but yet on the cooler side. I had some
darks in the lower corner...but lost focus when
I rendered them on a cooler side.

If the light is warm, shadows should be cool...
(typically and in principle), and the opposite
is true..if the light is cool shadows should be
warm. So, after I warmed those darker areas up
a bit...it all fell together rather nicely.