Reworking a painting

Now that I've determined what I want to represent in my paintings, it's really easy to see how to fix older paintings. In this case, the painting was done a year ago, when I was first learning how to paint in oils.

The painting on the left (A) was done with my first Water-Soluble oil painting class. Although a number of people have mentioned that they like this painting, I've never really cared for it. The colors are too bright and the background trees are too flat. Also, the focal point (bright red tree to the right) just doesn't look like a tree. The only portion of this painting that I've liked was the foreground bush/land and the sky.

To make it more like my current style of massing the shapes and introducing various abstract shapes, I reworked the painting (B). There is a lot more of this painting that I'm extremely happy with. I like the darker massed shapes of the background tree/foliage. This provides a nice offset to the bright abstract shapes in the front. I also like the general shape of the bush. Rather than keep with the sky, I decided that it need more of a linear flow to match the rest of the painting.

Now that I have the basic shapes/layout done, the final part of the painting is to paint the bright red tree. In this case, I'll have to search my reference photos for a better tree. Something more interesting than the linear triangular shape of the tree in painting A.

Towards the Beach: Basic Color Pattern

This weekend, I started to work on the color layout of Towards the Beach. For this painting, I wanted to match the colors of the mountains, water and beach as closely as possible to a photograph reference that I'm working from. As usual, I first laid down the basic color pattern and, from there, started working out some of the abstract shape colors.

The abstract shape colors help define the direction and feel of the painting. In this case, I wanted the user to immediately focus on the red band and, by having it move into the distance towards the beach, the eyes will go towards the beach. From there, the hope is that the user will follow along the mountain path, then to the waves on the water and then back to the red path.

So far, so good. I'm about halfway done with this painting. The next steps are to define the trees that are on the beach and connect them to the mountain. I also need to define some of the basic shapes on the mountain better and build up the white foam of the water.

Towards the Beach: Drawing Layout

Once the basic concept sketch is laid out, the next phase is to prime the canvas and "draw" out the basic shapes. In this case, you are not worrying about colors, value, etc. You are making sure that, showing the basic shapes, the scene is still recognizable.

Since I wanted this to be a little darker than my normal paintings, I've primed the canvas with a bluish-grey mix of white, Cerulean Blue, and Indigo Black. Mixing a light amount of Liquin into the painting helped cover the canvas and produced a thin paint layer (Remember... thick over thin to prevent cracking in the future).

The other benefit of priming the canvas is so that you don't get white speckled dots on the final painting. With the color laid over later, the white of the canvas should not be seen.

Now that the canvas has been primed, I refer to my reference sketch and "draw" on the canvas using a brush and Terra Rosa. I can adjust the shapes/drawing because I know that the final drawing will be overlaid by the painting, itself. It just gives me a guide to know how to layout my colors.

Towards the Beach: Concept Drawing

The next painting will be one of the smaller paintings (11 x 14) and more along the lines of an impressionistic landscape. In this scene, we have the water coming up to a beach and some trees/mountains in the background. The foreground contains grassy fields and rocks.

As usual, the first part of the painting is to layout various concept sketches to decide how the abstract shapes interact with the landscape. When doing this, there are two approaches: 1) Draw the land and then incorporate the shapes or 2) draw the shapes and incorporate the land. The last painting (Reaching Upward) dealt with the shapes being drawn first and then the mountain added to it. In this situation, the land is more important than the unique shapes, so I'll work based on incorporating the shapes into the land.

In the first drawing, we see that it is a pretty standard landscape scene with various rounded shapes at different points. since I want the beach to be the primary focus area, that shape will be the brightest/strongest. Most likely, it will be a nice yellow, which contrasts strongly with the bluish-grey water.

The second drawing uses various dark and solid colors blocks to "frame" out the landscape. The blocks will not be much different in value from the land, with the exception of the one near the beach.

The final drawing incorporates the shapes directly into the landscape and makes them a part of the landscape. This is definitely the most interesting use of the shapes. I think that this will be the primary painting.

Reaching: Working on the Mountain Color

Now that I'm feeling a lot better, I was able to get more work done on my latest painting: Reaching. My first attempt at the painting of the mountain, after deciding the colors, was just horrible. The issue was that the mountain was too fuzzy and muddy.

In oil painting, mud happens when you are laying down one color and then overmixing/blending too many colors into that wet area. As a solution, you try to smooth out the area and, if you are lucky, you eventually pull up the underneath paint or layer enough thick paint on the top to cover the mud. Most times, you just make more mud and the painting is weak... too fuzzy.

Rather, a better approach is to treat the painted shapes as a mosaic (learned technique from Karen Winslow). With a mosaic look, you still retain the definite colors of the shapes and avoid the mud. When you step away from the painting (about 5 feet), you should still be able to "read" the painting and tell what you are painting. Once you have laid down the basic shapes, you can then go in and smooth out the EDGES of the shapes to blend the shapes together.

For the blending, there are two ways to do this. Take your brush and lightly blend the two areas or laid down an intermediate color. At this time, I tend to blend the areas, but am experimenting with the laying down of the immediate color.

So, the painting is coming along. The parts that I'm not happy with are:

1) bright cloud around the tip of the mountain. This area should be darker to ensure that the contrast of the top of the mountain and sky are more prominent. With the top of the mountain being the focal point, I want to make sure that your eyes are drawn to it.

2) The gray at the base of the mountain is too weak. There is a discontinuity between the shapes and the mountain. They don't integrate well together. It looks like two separate painting sections.

3) The color of the shapes are a little duller than I prefer. This is more along the lines of my personal taste.

Reaching: Color Layout

Due to this week's illness, I was unable to actually work on my next large painting for a while. However, last night, I completed the basic color layout/scheme for my mountain scene.

As with my other paintings, I normally include a lot of bright colors for the abstract shapes. In this situation, since there were no abstract shapes near my focal point (the top of the mountain), I had to stay away from the strong colors. So, I went with some basic darker colors to represent the base of the mountain.

Now, that I have the basic color palette down, I'll need to actually start laying in some detail. For this piece, since I want to make sure that the user focuses on the mountain top and not any of the shapes, I will put the most detail at the pinnacle and make it less distinct as it moves away. In addition, I'll need to blend the right sphere with the mountain edge and make the color similar. That way, the eye will focus on the tip of the mountain, work your way down to the sphere and then to the base/shapes and back up the mountain.

Reaching: Concepts

The next painting that I am working on involves some pictures of mountains that I saw when I was kayaking in the San Juan Islands. There are so many landscape scenes available and it is pretty hard to choose what to paint.

After working on various concept sketches involving this mountain, I have decided on three potential ideas.

The first concept shows a road/foreground going towards the mountain. Adding atmospheric depth will make this a fairly interesting painting. I could envision the foreground being a

desert with a really dry ground... maybe some patches of green here and there to represent some life.

The second concept sketch would have two large greek pillars present behind the mountain. The foreground is reduced to be a minor player in the scene. The main thrust of the painting would be the majesty of the moutains contrasting with the pillars.

The final concept painting involves more of an interaction of the mountain scene with the spheres around it. This was the first drawing and I think that it has some serious merit to it. Of all of the drawings, I like the feel of this one the most. To make this painting work, the contrast of the mountain (dark) against the sphere (light) has to really stand out.

Therefore, the final painting will be my choice. Since this is a mountainous scene, it will also be on my largest canvas: 22 x 28. The purpose is to make sure that the mountain takes up most of the scene and is the predominant object in the painting.

Evaluating the painting

The final process for the painting is to evaluate it. Now that I've finished the detail and laid out the components, it's time to let the painting sit for a day or two and see if there's any portion of the painting that needlessly draws the eye.

In the current painting, I see three items that bother me.

The first one is that the plants around the base of the tree are too small. I think that the brighter area should spread out more and meld a little better with the foreground.

The second issue is that the ground is too vertical. In this case, I will need to glaze a thin layer of the sky onto the upper edge of the ground. That will do a better job on simulating atmospheric perspective.

The final issue is to extend the lower branches to be below the horizon line. They actually are below the line, but the green in the ground blends too much with the tree. This gives the impression that the tree branches are sitting on the horizon line.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the composition and achieved the image that I had in my mind.

Color Layout Finished

Now that the basic color layout phase of the painting is completed, time to add the detail work. For the color phase, I like the dark sky/water scene such that it really balances out the painting and forces your eye to the tree area. Also, there is enough detail in it so that the eye has interesting items to view while working its way around the painting.

In order to not draw too much attention to the dark areas, I’ve decided that no more detail will be added to it. The tree, however, will have a significant amount of detail. Changing the value patterns on the foliage will allow the tree to become more rounded. I will probably add more bark to the tree to make it more lifelike.

In addition to defining the tree more, the ground needs to be darkened and the large yellow shape will need to be shortened. I find it too distracting that it interacts with the corner or the tree.

Final consideration would be to decide what the sky will look like behind the tree. At this time, I’m thinking that soft white puffy clouds would be best. Something subtle. Maybe a hint of pink

Color Layout: Water Section

The next phase of the color layout was to decide what the water section was going to look like. When originally designing the composition, I imagined that there would a land section and a sunset/water section. The crucial part is to have the two sections somewhat overlap, but ensure that the water section did not take the focus away from the bonsai tree.

I decided that, by creating a dark water section with minimal shapes, I could further emphasize the bright section containing the bonsai. In addition, by using purples and reds (creating a cooler plane, the water section would then recede. This would push the warmer tree section forward.

The final color layout section is to define the sky in the water section. The plan will be to use various levels of grey and slight coloration of the blues/reds for interest.

First Color Layout

Now that I've decided what size canvas that I would like to use, the next phase is to just layout the general shapes on the canvas. This is done using a 2H pencil and Terra Rosa oil paint. For any vertical and horizontal lines, I want them to be absolutely accurate. Therefore, I will use my T-Square with a thin pencil line and lay out the lines.

Once the painting is subdivided, I'll use the Terra Rosa oil paint and a thin brush to decide what organic shapes go where and their relative size. Notice that this does not follow my concept sketch exactly. This is the time to do, essentially, what feels right. In the concept sketch, the tree was too small and thin. I decided to make it wider and larger, so that, combined with the red sphere/yellow platform, your eye is immediately drawn to it. I also widened the water area to the left to balance the painting more. If it was too thin, then your eye would be too distracted.

Now, that the general shapes/layout have been place, it's time for coloring. Rather than painting detail, I am strictly painting the general mid-value colors that I will be using in each section. I mainly want to see how the colors relate to one another and if, accidentally, the colors take the viewer's eye away from the main focal point (Bonsai Tree).

As I'm reviewing the painting, I notice that I don't like the portion where the platform touches the tree. I also am not sure that I like the large sphere (no color applied, yet) sphere to the far right. Both items seem a bit distracting. I may shorten the platform and reduce the size of the sphere. A lot of it depends on what I plan to do with the blue sky. I think that white puffy clouds are in order for that section.

The final section of the painting, I'm still mulling over... what to paint the color of the water section. I like the idea of an orangish red sun-down, but not sure.

Canvas Size

Once I’ve defined a concept sketch (previous post), the next phase is to decide what surface that I should paint on. For me, I’ve tried paper, illustration board, etc and have decided that I prefer the standard stretched canvas. I like the feel of the canvas beneath my brush and I like the light weight. However, the biggest benefit, for me, of a stretched canvas, is that I can paint really large or small and do not have to worry about framing.

Since I do craft shows, I’m constantly transporting the paintings in my car. Over the years, I’ve had the typical issues of having the frame be dinged or damaged. If you are looking at costs, a well-primed canvas can be purchased/stretched for less than $20 (depending on the size). If you frame it, that would add another $50 - $100 for framing. Therefore, you have to sell the painting for a bare minimum of $100 just to break even. This doesn’t include the fact that the frame can be damaged, the cost of transport (more costs due to the weight of the frame), the cost of a show, etc.

Therefore, I work on canvases that are stapled on the back and I continue the painting on the side of the canvas. This way, the painting looks nice from any angle and, if there is some damage to the canvas, I can easily repair it by painting over the damaged part.

So, what sizes do I work on? This depends on the topic and how much of an impact I want to make. I typically work on 4 different sizes: 22 x 28, 16 x 22, 14 x 18, and 12 x 16. This allows me to have a variety of price ranges at a show. When doing craft shows, it is important to have some pricier items/larger paintings and a LOT of smaller/more affordable paintings. You want the larger paintings to bring people to your booth, but, most likely, people will walk away with the lesser expensive paintings.

So, for this painting, I’ve chosen the 16 x 22 canvas size.

Bonsai Tree and Shapes: Concept sketches

In all of my paintings, I always work from concept sketches. These are small thumbnail sketches that contain the center of interest and ideas on how I want to create the world around it. For the bonsai tree painting, here are some of the better sketches:

As you can see, the sketches are extremely crude, small and kind of messy. However, the purpose of the sketch is to decide the layout. There is no reason to put the detail in there. That will happen when the actual painting starts.

Once I was done with the sketches, I decided which one would be the most interesting. In this case, the bottom image was my favorite. Every time I went to do a new concept sketch, I kept referring back to that one. Therefore, that is the one that will be painted.

In addition to doing the concept sketches for the painting, these sketches are also a great way to practice my compositional skills and my drawing skills. They are quick, throw-away drawings that are used to fuel the creativity path.

Next on the list, selecting a canvas.

Bonsai Tree and Shapes: Finding a representative image

Over this weekend, I started working on my latest painting. The first step of any painting, for me, is to decide what I want to paint. In this situation, I was looking at the bonsai tree on my office desk and thought... Hey! That would be an interesting object in a painting.

The first step was to find a representative image of a bonsai tree. Google is the absolute perfect tool for such a search. The image that I was looking for needed to be semi-curved and have an interesting leaf structure. I didn't want anything that looked like a tiny tree that you would see outside of your house. I wanted something that anyone would immediately recognize as a bonsai (there are a couple of representative curving limbs and pine leave patterns that evoke such a thought).

Once I have a representative image, it is important to note that you should try to have a realistic object in which to paint from. In this case, I am using the picture to decide how I want to shape the tree, but using my actual bonsai tree to do the painting. The shadows are better when you are working from life. Now, this is not to say that I don't use photographs.... I do. However, if I can get away from it, I do like to paint from the actual object.