Painting off Walker Bridge photo - Stage 4

Stage 3

Stage 4

This is it..... the final.

The shadows on the right were not as cool as those on the left. So I added Ultramarine Blue to the under side of the bushes, which not only unifies the two sides of the canvas, also accentuates light hitting the tops of the bushes.

I found trees in the background that were reflecting the diminishing light of dusk. So I put highlights on them.

I put bare branches into the bushes on the left, and broke up the arch of dark blue that was front and center in the water. This emphasizes the last sparkles of evening sunlight reflecting off the water. There are now some small white riffles around the little islands that come in from the right front.

This is a dangerous time for me. I have so much fun with the highlights and details that I can get carried away with the "piddle, play, and putter" and end up with a "blend" rather than distinctive highlights. So I decided to stop here. I will look at this painting over the next few weeks and decide if I still need to do something, or if I can consider it done and ready to sign.

luv/joB

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Painting off Walker Bridge photo - Stage 3

This is Stage 3, and I must specify here that it is actually painted from the photo, rather than the "en plein air" location itself. This DOES affect the final rendition, as the atmosphere is not present in a photo... Susan Sarback says you get only "10% of the real thing" from a photo.



Sooooo what I am doing here is using the photo as a reference and asking it to spark my memory of what was actually happening with the sun and shadows at the time the photo was taken when I was there on the bridge painting.


As I study this stage, I am asking questions to fine tune the next stage.... comparing background, middle ground, foreground, and the actual focal point of this scene (which is the point of the lightest light and the darkest dark). Do you see it? It's where the sun is hitting on that water way in the back. These questions are: lighter/darker?, brighter/duller?, warmer/cooler?

Soooo..... 4th stage ahead.

luv/joB

"All for the love of art."

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Painting off Walker Bridge - Stage 2

This is stage 2.

Here I just define the shapes in a little more detail.



I finished this late in the day. I'll show you tomorrow.

luv/joB
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"Seeing Color" from the Walker Bridge

The art class we are currently taking from Nancy Kilmer is called "Seeing Color". It's the Hawthorne/Hensche style which is a modification of Monet's impressionism.

The first part of this class was the "drawing from the right side of the brain" exercises, and then the blocks still life.... painting the blocks and the shadows they cast. I showed those in previous blogs.

Now we are "en plein air" painting off the Walker Bridge, which is about a mile and a half down river from the community hall where we meet for class.

View down riber from the bridge:










My first attempt:



I am not happy with the way this is working out, as I don't feel I did a good "first stage".

The object of this whole process is to capture the light, color, and atmospheric conditions present at the time scene is being painted. I think I got the greens too bright, and since the oil paint has dried now (2 weeks later) I decided to start over last night.


Stage 1:

I started this last night in class - from the photo, which is not the same as "being there", but I think it's good practice for this first stage, which is the base, and needs to be correct. This is also the part where I have the most difficulty.


So this is where I am this morning.





I'll show you my progress as the day continues.








luv/joB
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