Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Added more layers on clouds

This is the first photo taken with a new (used) Nikon P520 I recently won through eBay bidding. It's quite huge with 18MP of image.
Anyhow, I spent a lot of white to put more layers on the clouds. Since I haven't adjusted much of the values on the ridge the edges are still quite sharp. I need to wait a while until the new layers become touchable before I can adjust those values and colors.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Expanded mid-range coverage toward right

Tonight I continued what I was doing yesterday and covered further right side of the ridge. At the same time I brightened the edges of rocks to make them sharper. So far so good. I now need to go up toward the cloud covered peak, which viewer's eyes would eventually reach and rest. The edges there should be much softer.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Filling out midrange ridge

Filled the ridge in the middle. But couldn't define edges yet. colors of trees are still inconsistent. It would take quite some time for the area to take shape (sigh).

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Jim Lamb Demo at Daniel Smith Seattle

Starting at 11AM Jim Lamb was demonstrating his painting process just like he would do at any workshops. First 30 min was Q&A about his setting, material, plein air environment, and so on then actual painting session was about 1.5 h, which is very typical for his demonstration for the size of 8 x 10 or similar. Last time I took his workshop was more than a year ago, I believe. But I still remember what he repeatedly said. After that, I took two Tim Deibler's workshops over last 10 months or so.
Jim's distinctive style is characterized by the simple palette, relatively thin layers almost until the last stage, and the funny brushes he prefers. Then of course his way of pushing dark until the end, which create very atmospheric paintings like John McCormick's in SFO.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Hesitating filling the background

Added more value contrast to the shirt and hat then made highlighted part lighter. At that same time I tried putting some values into the background but couldn't decide how to handle it yet. I'll define more horse legs next then fill the ground part. Only after that I would try the background again.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Further pushed colors and values in frontground

Kept working on the front ground today. Maybe about the time to move on to the mid range, which should be lighter than the current values. Also it's too purplish now.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Figures are taking shapes

Although values are hodgepodge those figures are almost taking the final shapes. The problem is the background. I don't want to paint the bleachers accurately like I did in the past. Instead, I want to come up with some random patterns to imply bleachers without painting bench by bench. I'm not sure how I can do that at this moment though.   

Monday, April 7, 2014

Started applying thicker paint

As you can see obviously I started added bold strokes with thicker paint on the foreground trail and rocks around. Colors, values and edges maybe far from completion. But it's obviously getting lively. I need to use more short straight strokes for rock shapes to differentiate them from the ground. 

Sunday, April 6, 2014

La Conner Visit

Today I had the first long ride of the year to Skagit Valley mainly to visit MoNA(Museum of Northwest Art) to see John Cole exhibit, which was really good especially for his earlier works including cubism.
Then another good thing happened at La Conner Seaside Gallery. I personally talked to Alfred Currier (below image is from the Gallery website).
Then lastly I painted along Best Rd looking toward east (top image) beyond tulip fields. I had two frustraions: 1) I couldn't come up with good colors for distant trees along Skagit River, and 2) oil paint didn't flow well on the surface (canvas paper) although I mixed more than I regularly do. I didn't use pallet knife though. By considering this is the first plein air of the season all together, I'm mildly satisfied with the outcome. I'll try mixing more paint next time.

New Horse+Rider Painting

It looks like Galen Hansen's cowboy except headless, but that's not far away from what I'm goign to paint. It's another painting from the barrel race photos almost 2 years ago. In this one, the rider almost lost balance and about to fall, but she hanged on. So it's showing unbalance against forces affecting to both rider&horse. I encased both inside of two rectangular shapes. 20"x16" and the title would be Balance of Forces.