Working out a painting

The last few days have been spent in the studio and outside painting plein air.
Saturday morning was an overcast morning and after walking around the Glendale Art Show, I settled in to paint the gazebo in the Village Square. It was fun saying hello to everyone who stopped by and commented on the painting. Due to other commitments I couldn't stay as long as I wanted, but the painting is a great start and I have some good photo reference. I'll work this out over the coming weeks and you'll see the results here I'm sure.

I've also been working on my maritime series. I wanted to get started on these paintings while St. Andrews was still fresh in my memory. My studies and photographs are proving to be priceless. I thought inside of continuing two blogs, that I'd post my work in progress here on the site. It is amazing how much progress you can make by painting plein air. And..well--drawing. I've been doing more drawing and sketching and that seems to have strengthened a number of skills.

I've gone through over two hundred photos of the St. Andrews experience and whittled them down to ones I want to paint. I start with a sketch of the photograph, beginning to work out details and composition. From there I go to a 11X14 canvas board and work out more of the sketch. Here's the first layout I did with the along with the light and shadow areas blocked in...











There were a number of things that I didn't like about this painting and a number of drawing issues. This was a timed study and wasn't meant to be a painting ready for sale, but one to study and determine what I needed to change, what I liked about it, are the values good...just a timed study to question, practice painting quickly, and from to learn. I decided to return to my photo references and decide if there were some elements from other photos I wanted to pull in or was there a better representation of the man in the boat that would be better.

For example, the man is facing to the right. Your eye follows that direction and "off the page you go" since most of us read left to right. There is nothing really to circle your eye back around in the painting. The boat is somewhat centered right in the middle of the painting. I sat and studied the first attempt for a few hours making note of things I didn't like. Also, the size of the man to the boat is not proportioned right. Perspective is a bit off.

The result was this second study. Again, another timed study, only because I want to practice catching and working out details quickly. This again was a study to work out composition issues and focus on getting the drawing and perspective correct.
Here's the drawing that I did...




This drawing is much better and some composition issues were addressed. The man in the boat is more balanced, and the boat is not smack in the middle of the painting.
The background land is more proportioned and adds depth. The man is now turned back to the left, leading your eye not off the page, but back into the land mass and trees. The trees have sufficient interest as does the rocks. Here's the painting in middle.




Note that there is a considerable lack of interest in the center of the painting. While the values lead you to believe this is a sunny day and add some interest there is nothing really in the center to make you want to linger. Now take a look at the finished study.




The pine trees were added and have some curvature to them that pushes your attention to the right...so your eyes enter the painting at the left (because we read left to right here in the USA) move to the boat, man and then back to the rocks to the left part of the painting. The trees lead you to the right to the house roof, which leads your eye down to the land and the seaweed which leads you back to the right.
The result is a balanced painting. The composition is much improved from the first try and the perspective is also improved. With most of the issues worked out, this is ready to be transferred to a larger canvas. Before that occurs, I'll be pulling my studies from St. Andrews out and place it side by side with this study. I'll be asking myself are the values true to what I saw up in St. Andrews when I was plein air painting. I'll make notes right on the canvas board where it should be lightened or darkened. Then, I'll begin the painting that will become the second painting in my maritime themed paintings.

Check back and see the progress from study to completed painting for the "Seaweed Harvest" painting. I hope you found this interesting as you become part of the process of creating a painting. You know how to reach me if you have any questions.

Ciao,
Linda

Hurricane Ike hits Ohio??

Hello everyone.

Sunday afternoon (Sept 14th) Hurricane Ike blew (literally) into the my hometown. We had 80 mile an hour winds that lasted for about 4 to 5 hours. I could hear the rafters of the house cracking and creeking and the windows making noises as if they were about to pop out. I can only imagine what the folks in Texas and Louisanna were experiencing with higher winds!

I was actually out in the storm in my car and almost got a live electric line along with the tree that brought it down on my car! The wind, when behind me while in my car, felt like it was going to flip the car over tail first!! When I got home, the electricity was off and there was no way the car was going to sit outside with everything that was blowing around--actually more like airborne projectiles!!

As mentioned we lost power at 3:00 on Sunday. As of Sunday, Duke Energy--who had sent a large number of workers to Texas, had close to a million people without power in our area alone (Southwest Ohio--Cincinnati/Dayton). They are working around the clock to restore power--and ours has been restored 48 hours later. However, as of last night, still close to half a million still didn't have power and they are saying it will be well into the weekend for majority of power to be restored. Workers are expected to stay in our area for two weeks.

Gasoline here is getting sparse as well. Long lines, some impatience and in some cases the news is that some stations who have been up are now running low or are out of gas. Other stations can't pump what they have because the electricity isn't on at their station.

Then there's the ice issue. Anything that was in our fridge is now tossed...and anything in your freezer has to go as well. Especially if you can't find ice--which you'll burn your gasoline up trying to do. Our local stores lost all the meats, milk, milk products, freezer items and such. So--it will take some time to stock these up and yesterday--some of the local stores had limited power. If our schools have power--they don't have food for lunches--so schools are off again today.

The worst part about this storm was that it caught all of us by surprise. A majority of folks just weren't prepared to be out of power for this long. While we were without power, we had a battery radio that we could listen too. I got plenty of news on Cincinnati or Dayton--but nothing on the smaller town between the two cities called Middletown. No news on where we could go get ice--if any was available, etc. Without electricity, I felt like I was in a world all by myself. Totally dependant on yourself and you had to depend on your own resources. It was a very lonely feeling and it was very scary.

So why am I writing this--to urge folks to be prepared for anything in your house and area. Who would have thought a category 1 hurricane would hit OHIO!!!??? I faired a heck of a lot better than at least half a million people who are still waiting for power--but we aren't out of this yet. I faired a lot better than folks in Texas--we at least didn't have the storm surge and flooding and I'm not sitting on a roof waiting to be rescued without water or food. I was minorly inconvenience...but it isn't making the impact any easier to deal with....

Please keep those in Texas in your thoughts, and please add us in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky in your prayers as we deal with this crisis too. The press obiviously don't think we are in as dire straits, but there are folks who are. There is a state of emergency here--and the Governor is lobbying to have Ohio added to the Ike recovery list of aid etc--but folks need the help now--as do those in Texas. The media is missing the point here--this is huge--bigger than Katrina in the area that the hurricane hit. Ohio's Emergency response is being tested...and they'll learn from it--but in the mean time things are stressed--including the power grid/infrastructure. For the most part, we are all exercising our patience, but for some that isn't going to last long.

It is a stressful time. It is a total feeling of isolation even with a battery operated radio. It also was a time of learning and discovery---Just what can you do with a can of pinto beans and just how long will that food in your refrige remain good if you don't open the door but once a day? After cleaning up the debris from the storm, helping neighbors, what do you do without a computer, TV, and other electrical appliances? What do you do to get information and where can you go for help? Bottomline--you don't get information....even if you do have a radio. Folks need to realize that sending out a media release or an emergency email, doesn't cut it. Without electricity--YOU CAN'T GET THE MESSAGE! DOH! (and yes--I had two email messages the last two days with emergency messages from my city that I didn't get till this morning.) While without power--I heard nothing...got nothing...saw no police or anyone in authority (and I have a councilperson who lives behind me and down a few houses.)

Thanks for reading--it's nice to be back with some electricity....Thanks to friends that have pitched in and helped one another. My thoughts are with those who are facing more days in the "dark".

If you have contacted me in the last few days--I'll be getting back to you shortly. Thanks

Linda