Next Steps

Thursday was a good day for laying in more color and doing some modeling on the elements in the painting.  I got a little ahead of myself - I don't particularly LIKE the blocking in part, and I got started working on the tree before I finished getting the canvas covered.  Had to go back and do the foreground later and make myself STOP on the tree.

I worked several hours on Thursday with good light coming in.  Today is grey so far, but I expect the clouds to burn off later this morning.  Here's where I started out from yesterday.

As you can see, I've still got to cover the foreground.  I'm also trying to make the decision to put the cows in there.  Should have had all this worked out on paper beforehand, but it was kind of an afterthought.  That's what happens when you haven't painted in awhile!

As you can see above, I am beginning to do some modeling and bringing form to this tree.  It's an oak, and when you look at them, sometimes you can see big clusters or balls of masses of leaves.  So that's where I start.  Get the big masses laid in, and then go back in after it's a bit dryer to do some fine tuning.  Oil painting is a process of layers, laying in darks and basic shapes, and then continuing to model and shape, bring some to the fore and pushing some to the back.  This can be done with saturation of color, with warmth and coolness of color, with contrast and with defining sharp edges and "losing" edges.  Warm colors bring things forward, cool colors push things away.

A big studio piece like this takes time and lots of layers (at least for me it does).  When I go out to paint on location (and I will do this for you at times, too) I use a small canvas and paint everything "alla prima"  or all at once - with plein air painting, you try to capture the big shapes, the sights, the sounds, the air, the mood.  Plein air painting is great exercise for you have to paint quickly because of the changing light.  It's the best way to learn about color and contrast!

OK, I digress...  back to this painting.  As I was working on the tree my brush meandered over towards the lakehouse and I worked on the light and shadows here.

That little red thingie is the roof to a boathouse that I will work on later - just in case you were wondering...

Now, if only the sun would come out I could get started working on this painting this morning and make some more progress!  Have a great weekend!  Thanks for following along!  PS - if you ever have any questions about what I'm doing, just let me know.