Last Saturday I did a painting demonstration at the Tamarack House Gallery for the Stillwater Art Crawl. It was fun to see the painters that came out to watch! With the temps in the 90s and humid, it was fine with me to be in the cooled gallery! Below I posted the painting during the different stages from beginning to completion.
~The Demonstration~
1. I started out by laying in my design and large shapes using a wash of Transparent Oxide Red and Cad Scarlet - NO white. I often begin with a wash because it helps me feel out my design on canvas and it may be helpful later on in the painting if I decide to let some of the canvas show through.2. I then start by massing in my darks.
(it's important that in this stage of the painting to be sure and step away from the painting to be certain that you like the composition)
3. Once my large darks are established, I begin to mass in the average color and value of my next largest shape ( the sweep of yellow where the path of flowers will be )
4. Starting to work in some temperature differences within the masses and describing a bit more form in trees by distinguishing lights and darks.
5. Once I had my design and large shapes of color massed in, I continued to find variety within the shapes and began to work with the different textures.
4. Starting to work in some temperature differences within the masses and describing a bit more form in trees by distinguishing lights and darks.
5. Once I had my design and large shapes of color massed in, I continued to find variety within the shapes and began to work with the different textures. 6. Then masses in the sky. With the sky I was not wanting to draw too much attention to it so kept it fairly quiet. Also thinking of the play in color with the purple juxtaposing the yellows. I love that color combination!
7. Tidying up some accents and details, trying not to 'over' due it! Also cutting back into the shapes of the tree line with the sky color and a few sky holes.
Completion!
7. Tidying up some accents and details, trying not to 'over' due it! Also cutting back into the shapes of the tree line with the sky color and a few sky holes.
Completion!"Minnesota Prairies"
11x14 Oil On Linen Panel
8 comments:
Nice demo Kami, great to see all the steps. Beautiful colors.
I saw this device which may be interesting for you for cleaning the brushes (See the bottom of the post).
That was a hot day, Kami, but it was COOL(both ways!) watching you paint; you had a relaxed ease the whole time, painting and answering all our questions. It was good to see that at some point, painting ceases to be a strained effort, and more of a natural flow. I hope to get there someday soon- great demo!
Hey Erik, thanks for link to the brush cleaning tool. :) It's fun to see what other painters come up with and I LOVE her idea! I'm not sure about the rest of you painters out there but I don't think we can be too careful with getting any of the heavy metals in our bodies. Better be safe than sorry. At least I don't use Led White anymore, I can't believe I ever did that! We learn! Happy Painting Erik! Kami
Hello Judy
It was good to see you at the demo last Saturday, thanks for making the trip this way.
I do paint with more ease now than I used to and it does get easier the more you paint but I assure you it is not always easy. You kow that saying, "the more you know the more you don't know"?? Well, with painting that phrase HIT the jackpot! :) But I wouldn't change a thing and feel so grateful to be a painter. :) Happy Painting!
Great demo, Kami...thanks for posting it.
The gallery seems very nice, too.
What a great demo. It's like a little mini-lesson! Loved your mention of the path of flowers. I'm working on a piece right now which lost it's path, and so, i've had to stop and re-think.
HI Ann, thanks for checking in! I hope you're having a great summer painting!
Hi Pam, thanks for checking in! My paintings have 'lost their path' many times. . . . the important thing is that we get away from our paintings enough to see it clearly. :) I think the abstract structure is the most important thing to obtain to hang on to your 'path'. It can be difficult to know when to stop and not put TOO much imformation in! :) Happy Painting to you!
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