Friday, April 15, 2011

New Painting: "Sky Raga"

I am working on an eight foot painting and I thought I would share my process with you.

This painting, along with other paintings,
will be exhibited at a solo show at the Old Firehouse Gallery 
that opens on Friday, May 13, 2011.

This painting consists of two four foot canvases
that will be hung next to each other to make an eight foot painting.
There is a wall at the Old Firehouse Gallery that will accommodate a painting this long.
I decided to paint it on the two canvases so the final painting will fit into my Subaru or 
otherwise I would have to rent a truck to transport it to the gallery.

It's January 26, 2011
and after a few days of painting, here is the result of my first painting sessions 
where I am blocking in colors and establishing the compositional elements:




After a few more days of painting,
here is the result of my second painting sessions
where I am creating dark and light areas and
refining my composition:



Here is the results of my third painting sessions
where I am beginning to work in the details
after resolving the compositional elements:



This is my fourth painting session, where I am increasing the detail
and refining the colors.


This is my fifth painting session, where I am working out the details of the painting.
See the diagonal line of color that is moving from lower left to upper right.
That is my area of concentration for this session.
....There's still more to paint!



This is my sixth painting session.
Now I am beginning to fine tune the painting and work through to the final touches.
Defining areas, editing and coordinating the pallet is in process right now.
So there will be longer breaks between posting images, since it take a lot of "looking"
at the canvas and spending time with the work before I make changes.
And the changes from this point on will be minor but will affect the entire painting.
I would say that I am about 2/3 towards finishing.



Now I am in the process of fine tuning the painting.
This process takes longer than the initial first steps, since I spend a lot of time sitting 
looking at the painting and making small marks here and there.
Here I have refined the diagonal line of clouds and painted over the initial design
to create better "brush work" making the painting look more finished.
I also lighted up the left hand corner.  I was just too dark.
I'm almost to the finish.
It will just take a little more time and a lot of looking!


It's April 15, 2011 and I have finished the painting.
As you can see, I refined a few more details that 
unified the painting.

I am ready to exhibit it at the Old Firehouse Gallery, in Longmont, CO,
with an opening reception on Friday, May 13,  6 - 9 pm.
You are invited!

If you miss the opening party, the exhibition will be on display until June 4, 2011
(PS.  It's for sale!)