by Carol McIntyre on 8/28/2009 3:52:17 PM
First layer of paint
So many choices! Where to begin?
As you can see in this photo of the first layer of paint, I have done some rearranging of the larger shapes from the reference photo. The photo makes you feel like the land is flat, whereas I want you to feel like you are on the road, on a hill looking out into the vastness and beauty of the mountains. Hopefully you will let your imagination soar while realizing you are standing at a great height. While I am painting, I am always striving to create a sense of 3-D, so that you want to go into the painting and be a part of it.
The size of canvas I chose is 16x20. There is nothing magical about this size, but it seemed manageable and the correct size given that I am going to be trying some new approaches to my painting. (I do wonder what this scene might be like to paint on a much larger canvas.) My canvases are always coated with a few layers of white gesso before I begin, using a 6" palette knife to apply the gesso. I create a thin organic texture on the canvas that gives the painting another dimension, though you can not easily see it in these photos. The other reason I coat my canvases is because I do not like the woven texture of canvas - neither the look nor the feel of it.
New painting approach: As a life long learner, I am always trying to challenge myself to be better at painting and communicating my message. For the past couple of years, my paintings had vibrant puzzle looking underpaintings. This painting will not have an underpainting and I will begin with colors closer to the final painting AND I am using a 1" cheap paint brush ($.85) from my local hardware box store. This brush forces me to mix lots of paint and I cannot be real accurate.
My palette is based on the purple-yellow complementary colors, because I want a pinkish-purpleish misty look in the far background. Many landscape painters leave the sky toward the end of the painting, whereas I like to put it in first because I think it sets the tone of the painting. It could also be my years of painting with watercolors where the medium almost requires one to begin with the sky. In actuality, the sky was an azure blue when we were driving, but that color does not create the harmonic feeling I want to convey. Interestingly, it did not come through in the photographs either because the sun was so low in the sky.
What would you have done differently? Where do you think is my central area of interest?
...to be continued.
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