Days End, The Progession of a Painting

Many people have always enjoyed my process for painting so I’ve posted a series of images showing the progression of a recent painting.  This particular type of painting with it’s moody feeling are most often created through a process of composing. I bring elements that I’ve seen on my travels and experiences together to create works that are uniquely original.  Some of the most important elements in these pieces are the shapes and very close hues, values and temperature shifts.  I’ve explained each step of the process below.

Step 1:  The first thing I do is create the basic shapes of the image using a mixture of Sap Green and Alizarin Crimson. This mixture of colors is very dark but transparent and extremely rich in color. It’s important to create shapes that are interesting.  This is the case for both the positive and negative shapes.  Once I block in the shapes I take a Q-tip and begin to remove some of the paint to reveal the form of the objects.

Step 2:  I then begin to add the color to the forms. It’s important to keep my color values very close and temperature shifts slight.

Step 3:  I continue to add colors to the forms as well as the foreground. Notice how close the values remain in the forms.  The contrast will come has I paint the sunset sky later in the process.

Step 4:  I now begin to block in the sky using a very warm mixture of paint.  Though these color may appear bright they are actually quite grayed down on my palette, almost muddy.

Step 5:  I continue to paint the sky and add the sky holes in the trees. This is where the most pure color will be found. These sky holes will be softened as part of the final steps in the process. Tree holes are often used to create trunks and branches.  This technique is used to create a more natural and believable tree.

Step 6:  I continue to adjust the colors of the sky and add the sun.  Foreground is being refined. Colors of barn are refined.  Values are still close on all the forms allowing the light behind the trees to play the major role in the piece.

Step 7:  Edges  in the painting are softened, especially sky holes in the trees as well as the edges of the trees and barn.