Trying to immulate nature is a tough job. There are tricks of the trade that can be used to accomplish distance and atmosphere, etc. But the ability to put you in the place is one of the most difficult challenges for an artist. Painting a large painting helps, because it fills more of your eye. So once again, I'm painting something huge to try to "take you there." Here is the rough outline from photos a friend of mine took in Canada last month. Thanks Steve F.
This painting is 48x54
I call this my "block in" stage. It usually all happens in 4-8 hours, where the canvas is covered with bold strokes that concentrate on the structure and atmosphere with and eye for the mood and color harmony. While it is fast, many trips to the back of the studio keep me seeing it from a distance (as you see it here in small pictures. I can see what is too strong, or too close, or too rich in color, or not enough color. So many things to concentrate on.
I'm five hours into the painting now. It is starting to make sense to the eye. I want the viewer to be caught up in the light of this painting. The mountains and waterfall will be secondary. I can tell that I have much to do to create that moody of an atmosphere. Right now it is a bit plain... nice... but not the drama that I want.
I've painted in the shadows on the snow and waterfall, and filled in more cliffs and trees to the right of the waterfall. I've also added more mist throughout the painting.
I'm throwing on the paint! what fun this is! So creative and full of joy, I can't think of anything more fun (well, there are a few things, I'm sure) It is the end of a 9 hour day and I am exhausted from the focused mentality.
So much for the fast and furious, free spirited painting. The next three weeks will be more tedious, and the results are not noticed so much on this small scale, so I won't update but once every few days now. See you soon.
A busy day of 12 hours painting in the details of the upper right of this painting. About half way there on this area.
I'm zeroing in on some of the subject (central focus) of the painting today. Sometimes I start with this and work out, but you just never know what is going to attract your attention and ask to be painted first. I'm anxious to finish the waterfall, and will probably tackle it tomorrow.
Here you can see that I am filling in many different layers from the foreground trees, back to the distant mountains. I'm painting as I am moving down, so I only have to keep track of the dark and light values as well as the intensity of the colors as I paint one area or the other. Darker and more intense as they come foreward. This gives the illussion of atmosphere and distance in the painting.
I repainted the water today. It didn't look like the water that was in the shadow of the trees and mountains in the forground, seemed to not be the same water as the background water. I added more blue and it became light and shadow instantly. Very exciting when it works! I finished the day working in the foreground on the bottom left. This is very rewarding, looking at some wonderful photo of grass and rocks and stream, then making it look like the picture. A great day and another 10 hours.
I couldn't sleep late today (Saturday) because I was too excited to finish this painting. Like having a baby! The only difference, is they don't hang around for 20 years.... I cart them off to the orphan...I mean the gallery as soon as they are done. This will be hanging in The West Lives On Gallery in Jackson in a couple of weeks. You won't believe the monster frame ($2500) that it will go in. It's going to be awesome! Thanks for keeping up with the progress!
