New Sunflower Painting in Pointillism [Sunflowerpainting1]

Sunflowerpainting1

First I lightly sketch the subject onto a canvas using a pencil, after that I flung paint all over the original sketch from several large brushes and created a random splattering of various colors. When the splatters and drips dried I applied acrylic paint as a transparent wash to fill in large areas with pale [...]

The Mc Kinley Trail Painting Rests

McKinleyTrail6

I’m ready to let this painting rest for awhile, it might be finished, it might not.  I’ve been too close to it for too many days to be objective anymore.  This is the point where propping it up inside a studio mat and sitting it on the easel for a few days serves as a [...]

Foreground in Pointillism

McKinleyTrail5

After a little touching up to the mid ground I’ve started adding pointillism (many small colorful dots) to develop the moss and grasses in the foreground.  One of the interesting aspects of this part of the Mc Kinley Bar Trail is the orange/red/gold mossy covering on the ground near the water.  Combined with the green [...]

Details on Upper Half of Painting

McKinleyTrail4

I don’t usually go into detail at this stage of the painting, the bottom half remains untouched but for the under painted watercolor wash.  But something tells me that I won’t have a whole lot to do on the bottom half, it has a nice feel already, I’ll just pull it together with some darks, [...]

Painting Dark Shapes

McKinleyTrail3

The sky and distant mountains are not finished, but their values are well enough established that I can move into the middle ground and plant trees.  I’ve defined the light and dark shapes of the middle ground but the foreground grasses have not been touched.  They remain as the original under painting at this stage.  [...]

Applying Dots of Acrylic over the Gel Coat

McKinleyTrail2

I had forgotten how much fun it is to paint over the watercolor wash coated with acrylic gel, using acrylic paint in dots!  I love it and wonder why I quit.  The photo of the early phase of the painting “McKinley Trail” above shows that I’ve begun to fill in the sky using gradation from [...]

Coating the Surface With Acrylic Gel

DenaliGel

This is the part that separates my painting technique from a pure watercolor.  I carefully coat the under painted watercolor with a layer of acrylic gel.  If I use too much water in the gel it will smudge the under paint, it takes just the right amount of gel/water to work.  I don’t mind if [...]

Laying Down the Watercolor Wash

DenaliWash1

Close ups of the wild abandon I use when applying the under painting of watercolor. I show very little regard to the drawing underneath at this stage.  Salt has been sprinkled onto the wet surface to create the snow flake look, and paint is splattered on the surface. The finished under paint for the new [...]

The Start of Another New Painting

Denalisketch

Lately I’ve been painting on canvas, and enjoying the springy texture of the stretched fabric.  But, I ran across a series of work I did a few years ago using an under painting of watercolor on heavy rag paper and I immediately yearned to paint with that method again.  So, using reference material from my [...]

Redo East Fork Wolf Painting Finished

redoeastforkwolffinal

The wolf is too visible in the Redo stage 4, my last post.  I want him to blend into the landscape like a shadow, camouflaged the way they actually appear in nature.  So I repainted the water behind the wolf figure, darkening it with lots of small dots until the animal blended into the landscape, [...]

ReDo Stage 4 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolfredo4

. Here is the re-worked painting with the new wolf image.  The mountains and sky have been grayed back, the water behind the wolf lightened to silhouette the animal.  I’m going to wait a few days and digest these changes before I declare the painting finished.  I’ll turn it upside down and evaluate how the [...]

ReDo Stage 3 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolfredo3

After painting a lot of dots in the background, I concentrated on painting the new wolf image.  At this point I am fairly satisfied, but decided that I needed to tone down and grey back the distant mountains and the sky.  So I spent most of the day refining the entire painting so that it [...]

ReDo Stage 2 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolfredo2

After searching through my “Wolf” files I selected another photo to use.  I’ve been photographing the wolves of Denali National Park for more than a decade and have lots of good reference material from which to choose.  Next, I sketched the outline of the new wolf on the white painted spot and began to add [...]

ReDo Stage 1 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolfredo1

I’ve been looking at this “finished” painting for a few weeks, now that the hectic holidays are over and the stress level is lowered, and I realize that I’m not satisfied.  I’ve decided to take out the little wolf and paint a larger one.  The wolf is too small for the landscape, and I really [...]

East Fork Wolf Painting Finished!

eastforkwolffinish

“East Fork Wolf” 15″ x 30″ acrylic on canvas. A little more work refining the background mountains, adding more light and shadow, touching up the highlights on the water, toning down the middle ridge on the left and punching up the foreground with some dark hues, when I stepped back to take a look from [...]

Stage 8 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolf8

More dots of warm yellow orange and acra violet are applied to the distant peaks and the sun drenched ridge along the river, and warm colored dots highlight some of the gravel bars in the middle ground. I’ve worked on the composition a bit striving to eliminate the strong diagonal pull from lower right to [...]

Stage 7 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolf7

At this stage I’m adding color to the middle ground hills, at first it seemed enough, but I’m going to enhance the color even more to show the glow of the evening setting sun. I’ve begun to add detail to the foreground rocks and foliage, and I’m roughing in the base color and shape of [...]

Stage 6 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolf6

I’ve begun work on the middle ground, defining color and shape of the hills and establishing highlights and dark values in the gravel bars. The distant river gravel is in the shade, this is a painting about fleeting light and shadow. Some areas are highlighted as the sun shines through openings in the clouds, others [...]

Stage 5 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolf5

As the painting progresses the dots become more and more dense, and multi-colored. The foreground gravel has more dots of lavender, purple, and blue violet, as I work my way toward the top of the canvas I’m adding many more hues and shades of similar values to the water and gravel bars. The object is [...]

Stage 4 East Fork Wolf Painting

eastforkwolf4

I’ve changed the direction of the diagonal lines in the lower third of the painting and began to add mid value dots. I’m still focusing only on the lower part of the painting, only a single value of dots has been applied to the green ridges in the top third. Everything is subject to major [...]

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...