Critique Study

The Critique, study for, 12x9, oil on Panel, available

Here is a study I did for a larger piece I am now working on. It is a "dark/light" pattern that I have spoken of before. If you squint your eyes you will see that every shape is either a part of the dark shape or a part of the overall light shape. I am staying away from medium values to create this pattern. The only medium here is really the light on the sweat shirt of the figure on the left which I will darken down in the larger painting. In this study it is tied to the darks but not quite enough so.

The head of Kevin transitions from the light into the dark pattern, as does his arm. Against the light background his arm groups itself with the dark pattern, but against his shirt and the painting he is holding his hand transitions to the light group. I love working with dark/light pattern. If done well, the painting is so much more interesting to me.

Coming up to Tiger Wall

Another new one off the easel recently is from a trip I took on the Yampa River a few years ago. It is a larger format for me. I wanted to show the grandeur of Tiger Wall, a monument we all love to kiss as we float by. You can see the size of the wall by the tiny two man raft floating towards it. The raft is hard to see in this size of an image, I grant you that!

 Approaching Tiger Wall, 40x30, oil on canvas - available

I am going to post this now as for whatever reason, this blog is going cattywampus on me. I wrote a post before this on a completely different topic and gave up after two days of trying. I don't like getting frustrated by trying to write a post because this application doesn't want to cooperate. I may have to look for another option for my blog.  I take no credit for however it ends up looking as nothing I do to adjust the format is working lately.

Reading on a Jet Plane

Reading on a Jet Plane, 20x16, oil on canvas panel

From the takeaway from the workshop I did earlier this month, I decided to redo one of the subjects started there. Not over paint the existing painting as is my habit, but start over from the beginning on a new canvas. I spent more time getting the proportions correct up front instead of covering the canvas with big shapes as I did in the previous version. This version is working so much better. You see the second figure reading much more clearly. His hands don't look like hams.

In my efforts to always improve, I decided it was good to start over as I knew what I wanted to do differently after the study done in the workshop. In this version I wanted to keep the yellow/violet complements but not overuse either. I wanted to keep the big shapes simple. I think it gives a good idea of the bright light you get flying high above the earth. 

Since this photo dates before digital imagery or maybe at the beginning of digital photography (was it really 13 years ago?) I worked from a 4 x6 photo I had in our photo album from our trip to Germany in 2002. This is my son (sans glasses as I did not think that the glasses were needed for the success of the painting and it is not technically a portrait) and my daughter is in the window seat.