Signs of Spring, step 1

The setup with silk daffodils:



It is spring and my daffodils were ready to bloom. I like to paint an annual daffodil painting, often in a yellow and blue motif. I used silk daffodils to get a rough idea of how I wanted to plan it. I pulled some vases and pots from my still-life "closet," a scarf from a drawer, and, thinking in complements of blue and yellow, came up with the above arrangement.

The setup with real daffodils:



After I was fairly satisfied with the silk arrangement, I substituted the real daffodils, but not for the ones out of water. I had to be stingy with the flowers, since I didn't have many in the garden. I planned on painting the ones in the vase first, then I would take them out of water, and use them in the foreground.

Painting the daffodils:



I spent three sessions on these daffodils, which are now finished. And the daffodils are long gone. The photo above doesn't show them nearly as rich in color as the painting. I am aiming for a neutral blue-gray background to show off the colors. You can see by the differences from the setup photos to the painting photo, the reason an artist should never paint a still life from photos. The camera lightens the lights and darkens the darks so there is a tremendous and unrealistic contrast between the two.

Broken vases:

After the last session painting the daffodils, I returned to the studio the next morning and found the daffodils and the vases on the floor. The blue vase had it's neck broken off and the white one was broken in half. My darling cat Leo had apparently been challenged by the situation and gave it a "go." I have since repaired the vases and will resume work on this painting soon.

Sorry to say I lost last week due to a stomach virus.

Harpers Ferry, step 6

Finishing the painting, again



You always hear that when you finish a painting that you should put it away for several days and then look at it with fresh eyes. Well, I did, and I saw some big and little things to do.

First, the big thing. I saw that I had lost the distance of the left "mountain," so I glazed it with a blue/gray to push it back. Now it looks more like it did in step 4. Somehow I had lost that in the previous step. While I was at it, I also glazed the back right mountain.

Then I rearranged the rocks in the distance, added some sky holes to the trees on the left, and redesigned the bush by the sandy path. I camouflaged a tree trunk that was bugging me, added some more highlights to the trees, and accented a few of the rocks.

The painting is done, it is framed, and in two days it goes to American Painting Fine Art, DC for the Potomac River School exhibition.

Harper's Ferry, step 5

Finishing the painting



I noticed that the right hand mountain looked like a crocodile lying in wait for a juicy tidbit. By rearranging the trees, I kept that disturbing image blurred.

I also changed some of the colors in the shadow areas of the mountains, which aren't really evident in these blog photos. But I do think you can see a difference. They look more defined, and the sun came out.

The major change was the rocky overlook. I eliminated the shadows, which had given them depth and changed them into simple large rocks in the water below me, which is how they really were. I added two Canadian Geese, who had very thoughtfully posed for me when I was photographing the scene. They add a nice touch, particularly their vertical lines as a counterpoint to the many horizontal lines in the painting.

Harper's Ferry, step 4

Refining the mountains, rocks and trees



I realized when I had finished the previous step, that the top lines of the mountains on the right were parallel, which I needed to correct.

I added a rocky shore line on the close right mountain and defined the rocks, particulary those in the foreground, where I was putting the rocky overlook. I didn't think the sun was shining on the trees, so I highlighted the sunny side a bit more. It was a semi-cloudy day when I did the plein air sketch, and so I am having to fabricate the sun on the trees.

Harper's Ferry, step 3

Finishing the color lay-in and more



Taking my time, I developed the trees laying in the darks first and moving to the lights. I added a rocky shore line and identified some of the trees.

Then I went on to develop the water near the left shore line. I added reflections and ripples to the water, and in some spots I added highlights.

Harper's Ferry, step 2

The color lay-in



Working from back to front, I painted the the mountains, gradually warming my colors, and darkening the shadows, carefully observing these rules of atmospheric perspective.

I moved on to the water, again working from back to front, sketching in the rocks and movement of the water along the left-hand shoreline. I wanted to get these areas done before I did the trees on the left, since the other colors and values would set the tone.

Now that I have recovered from the flu, I will lay-in the remaining areas.

Harper's Ferry, step 1

The burnt umber sketch and color lay-in

Last fall I painted a 12 x 16 color sketch at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers at Harper's Ferry. Below are two reference photos and the color sketch.







I enlarged the sketch by gridding it into quarters and transferring it onto a 22 x 28 canvas, prepared with rabbit skin glue and acrylic gesso. Since the burnt umber sketch didn't take very long, I started on the sky and some of the water. I used a reference photo from another scene as a guide for the clouds. See below.



I have sketched a rocky overlook in the lower right hand corner so that my high vantage point makes sense. I like the way it ties in with the rocks below. I have also modified the trees in the middle-ground by varying their shapes and adding trunks and limbs. The green nerf-ball tree looks ridiculous. Other than those two things, the painting will be about the same as the sketch, only larger with more detail.