It's done!

Finally, after much thought, imagining, research, preparation, sweat, overdue books and several consecutive late nights, the painting is complete! (And even in time for the Variety Show!) It's a sweet victory.

So, I had been thinking that it would be fun to put up a progression slide show or something cool like that, depicting the evolution of this painting that has occupied so much of my time and thoughts for the few months. However, I simply cannot find a picture of how it looked originally, as the "Lonely Barn". (silly, spacey me, forgot to take an original before picture. D'oh!) I think it would be anticlimactic and painfully incomplete to post such a progression without the original sad, faded photo for contrast. Consequently, I've decided to stick with the system I've got going and continue with just posting the most recent updates.

Ok, picking up where we left off, here it is at the phase where the clouds have just been completed. I'm actually quite pleased with how they turned out; big, fluffy, shapely things that they are. Hooray! There are lots of different colors mixed into them to try to portray the proper shading. However, overall, I think your brain still says, "Look! Happy white clouds." And that is the desired effect :)

Next, I put in the boat. Silly silly boat.

It took a couple sessions of tweaking before I was satisfied, but in the end it was pretty alright. I do wish that I would have painted the thing smaller. However, at this point, in order to achieve that, I would have to repaint both the sky and the water. This I am extremely disinclined to do. Not simply because of time constraints for the V-Show (possibly its only chance for display) but also, I am exceptionally pleased with both elements and have zero desire to to chance ruining them in an attempt to match colors or redo the whole thing. (Ugh.) So, the boat will forever remain just a little too large.


And it's done!

Now that the painting was finished, signed and drying, all that remained to be done was the frame.

Previously the frame was a dirty, dusty, ugly brown. Bleh. That must go.

Here is has been repainted a nice creamy color:

And now the final touch - a little bit of antiquing:

Now, for unveiling of the Final Project!

Drum roll..................

Ta da!
I call it "Escape".

Deadlines!!

I realized the other day that there is a Variety Show coming up in May; that isn't very far in the future. That Variety Show would be a most excellent place for me to debut this painting I've been working on for Foooorreeeeeeever. Realizing that gives me a concrete deadline and that gives me lots of motivation to work! (i know.. gotta work on that motivation stuff)

I'm a little behind on my updates for this blog so here is the second-to-most-recent view of the painting:(and just to get an idea for scale, that pad of paper is 8x11)

Since then, I've been doing some research and I think I know what is needed to make the clouds look like clouds and not just blobs of swirling whiteness. Having just recently discovered this, yesterday I ran right out and got more paint ('cuz i was all out of white from the previous layer of clouds). And here is the most recent update on the painting:

It's still a work in progress.. I like that the gray has given shape and dimension to the clouds.... but it still needs a fair amount of tweaking. However, these being oils, I'm going to have to wait a little bit for them to dry just a tad before going back in and playing some more.

One of these days I'm going to have to name it.... maybe Connection..

A Little Further Along

Here it is! The long awaited update on that picture I've been painting. For some reason the colors aren't quite true to life in the photo.. and it's just too big to see the whole thing and still see much of the texture. Ah well, at least it's lost it's smudgy look and has started resembling a sea scape. Hooray!

I'm pretty excited! All that is left is the cloud; the hardest, and coolest part of the painting. Then I'll have to start considering what to do with the frame. Feeling productive tonight!

Artistry

So, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to paint a picture by June 1, 2008. I of course couldn't start small. No, no, no. So, I have this framed picture I've been lugging around for the last 8 months. It is large; roughly 40" x 24". The original picture was old and ugly. So, it was selected to be my new canvas!

A couple weekends ago, I removed the frame and then painted the entire thing white, and tonight I began to add color. I'm attempting to paint with oils. Yes, very ambitious you say. Well, I do have some experience with oils, but this is a very large project I've taken on. This thing takes up my entire table. It is now, officially, an easel. My little apartment is going to smell of oil paint for a long, long time. Also, I have come to the realization that I am going to need more paint; lots of it. Tonight I used up most of my blue and a good portion of my white. And that's just for the base color of the sky! Hey, but it's a great excuse to get fresh paint. Who doesn't love going to art store with intent to buy?

Observe my progress:


Yes, blue and smudgy. Don't you love oil paintings? One day I hope it will resemble a horizon over an ocean with some (hopefully) impressive clouds. I think I may throw in a little sailboat as well, to give it a little perspective.

Stay tuned!