Just a quick post tonight. Here is a painting I made in Cornish New Hampshire a week or two ago. The top picture here is my transparent lay in. I worked on it for
perhaps four hours on location
and ended up with this.
Sometimes I work on a piece in the studio a little bit and it is finished, but other times I extensively rework them. This is an example of that. Almost everything visible on the finished painting was done in the studio with the outdoor painting serving as an armature.
I added the road because the foreground seemed empty and I wanted a stronger lead in. I decided I didn't like the Trees on the right pushed against the frame so I invented a much smaller one and moved it towards the center more. All I wanted was to stop the viewers eye from sliding out over there. I worked up the snow to get more definition and some color and bright lit planes in there . I worked up the trees and barns making them brighter and a lot more defined. I downplayed that big white pine in the center of the painting as it seemed too assertive and I worked up the barns because I thought they needed to be more detailed and interesting.
Just a quick post tonight. Here is a painting I made in Cornish New Hampshire a week or two ago. The top picture here is my transparent lay in. I worked on it for perhaps four hours on location and ended up with this.
Sometimes I work on a piece in the studio a little bit and it is finished, but other times I extensively rework them. This is an example of that. Almost everything visible on the finished painting was done in the studio with the outdoor painting serving as an armature.
I added the road because the foreground seemed empty and I wanted a stronger lead in. I decided I didn't like the Trees on the right pushed against the frame so I invented a much smaller one and moved it towards the center more. All I wanted was to stop the viewers eye from sliding out over there. I worked up the snow to get more definition and some color and bright lit planes in there . I worked up the trees and barns making them brighter and a lot more defined. I downplayed that big white pine in the center of the painting as it seemed too assertive and I worked up the barns because I thought they needed to be more detailed and interesting.
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23 comments:
Damn nice painting Stape!
Good changes, I like the way you turned the lights up a bit. I love the editing. This is one of my favorite posts.
Nice job with the changes you made Stape. This post is a great example of how a painter has an on-going relationship with a work in progress. Often (actually so often) you end up repainting most of the painting's surface to get it right. The mark of a good painter is the willingness to keep pushing the painting to a higher level.
Sometimes of course the first attempt works for some of the passages. But most often it is a question of going back in to clarify, eliminate, or re-tune until the darned thing comes to life.
I agree with Philip...Lots of changes..and yet it still looks fresh, and authentic. I guess you've been doing this for awhile, and it shows.
Today will be a tough day to stand outside and paint. It is below zero with double digit negative wind chills. brrrr.
Very nice painting and a good post that gives insight into orchestrating a finish.
Thanks!
Very interesting post, Stape. It seems like you might have started out, in the lay in, to have a connecting circle of darks as you pointed out in an earlier post about a Hibbard composition. But then it appears you opted to open it up to the viewer. In the end, you almost close the loop again with that snow track but leave an opening to the corner. Could it be that if that opening was on the right, it would lead us out? Really nice picture and really helpful to hear your thought process as you went along.
Might you have a few things to say about lead-ins sometime.
Today will be a great day to test my gear for Snow Camp W.
great post on your process Stape and lovely end result. Have fun at snow camp!
This painting glows! I like the silver & blue, with just a touch of gold and red to ballance out.
I can feel the cold. Stape, did I hear you mention rotissarie chicken?
Very insightful. I haven't been painting outdoors because I don't feel I am fast enough. Perhaps if I take an approach like this - an outdoor laying as an armature for the studio painting - I will feel less pressure outdoors.
Excellent to see your approach, Stape! How often, do you think, you end up extensively reworking a plein air piece?
J:
Thank you. I am flattered.
..................Stape
Gregory:
Oh this? this is just an old rag.
.........Stape
Philip:
Thank you. I worked for this one, I like the way it came out, but I had to fight for it.
............Stape
Deb:
Thank you Deb: I will do a post about the workshop today.Wish you were here.
.......................Stape
Simone:
Thanks. We have a woman in the workshop who has moved to Mine from Florida. She has been telling us alligator stories. Evidently they are some form of obnoxious lizard of unimaginable size.
.....................Stape
Willek:
Get that gear in order.I will write a post on lead ins that's a good idea.
.............Stape
Deborah:
Thanks we are having fun. It is EXTREME.
........................Stape
Bill:
Thanks, Yes I did mention chicken. In fact chicken is my favorite bird.
......................Stape
Jeremy:
Outdoors is the best place to paint landscape. There is more of it out there.
.......................Stape
Michael:
I extensively rework about a third of them I guess.
........................Stape
Wonderful painting! It takes experience -- and fortitude-- to bring such completion and finish to a plein-air sketch!
Tom;
Thanks.
........Stape
I usually read your posts and learn but rarely leave comments...
This was a more exceptional post than your usual exceptional posts...
Thanks... so good to see the work and then read your explanations of what you were thinking about when you reworked it.
It turned out beautifully, as usual, too.
THANKS... as always.
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