Saturday, April 18, 2009

Now I'm starting to build on color in the light and develop some structure somewhat in the foreground. I'm not quite sure at this point what I used exactly for color in the greens. I can tell you I did not use green. I only use Viridian for some rich darks with Alizeron.


I put the sky in. Continuing to work the entire painting. That is one thing I will mention, I always work the ENTIRE painting. I concentrate on getting the entire painting working for me before I refine any one thing. Everything is relative to everything else so it's important for me to keep moving around to keep the harmony of the whole.


Now I'm starting to try and figure out how in the heck I'm going to handle this bean field in the front. I did not anticipate this being so much of a problem. I worked and worked this front area until I got what I was after. First, I had to figure out what I was after. :) I had a clear vision of magenta so naturally at first I went over board with that 'vision'.

Ha! It's starting to work! I build and scummbled layers upon layers of warmth juxtaposing cool temperatures to create the sensation I saw that night. I must say, at this point in my painting I have come to realize that there is definitely NOT one way to do things. I believe you have to do what ever it takes to get the effect you are looking for. Let yourself respond to what it is you are painting. Not everything requires the same handling of the brush. I finding out of myself that I paint landscape because I love it. I love the harmony it provides and I love the differences in textures. I love that when the light danced across the tops of those seed pods on the grasses that it reminded me of little flecks of gold dust sprinkled across the tops. And that it was quite different than the light hitting that large heavy, mass of tree above it. They each deserve their own brush work. Some areas of this painting are thick, some thin, some bold, some delicate but all united to create one harmony.

Notice anything missing? How about a dead tree? Yes, I noticed a repeat share in the 'V' of the trees and decided it was best to redesign Nature a bit for the sake of the painting. :) I'll admit the tree went in and out MANY times in MANY different shapes.

A solution! :)


Please keep in mind that when I shot these photos I was in the middle of the painting and was not at all concerned with color etc. This was a really difficult piece to photograph with all the warmth in the greens.








3 comments:

Joseph said...

That's a beautiful painting! You are very talented :D

I think it's really interesting how you describe the process you go through of painting a picture. It's really cool.

Thanks for all of your comments on my blog. I appreciate them.

Could you tell Paige and Nick I say 'Hi' -haha.

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

Sweet painting and very nice tutorial! Thanks for taking the time and effort to share. Don't you just love it when it all comes together!

Kami Mendlik said...

Hi Carol, thanks for the commment and for checking in! I always 'plan' to do more online demos but get so into the painting that I forget to photograph the 'process' so I made point of doing it with this piece. It's good for me to talk about it this way and hope it helps or inspires other painters as well.