Step by step oil painting
Step by step oil painting
The painting is an imagined view looking north near Wukoki Ruin in the Wupatki National Monument
during the summer monsoon season. Vegetation includes Sand Sage, Mormon Tea and Rabbitbush.
The Moenkopi Sandstone blends with the black volcanic cinders. It's a perfect subject to paint!
First picture 08/21/01... this assignment begins
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In the lobby of the Old Town Gallery I begin the underpainting of this four panel painting. I'm using actual elements from this area at Wupatki even though the scene is in my mind. I've rearranged the pieces capturing the feeling for the place in late summer monsoon season when the landscape colors are the brightest. It's just a way to emmerse myself in the environment and experience of this place. It gets this project started.
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08/23/01...
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Finishing up the underpainting.
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08/24/01...
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The very first and somewhat primitive blocking on shapes. (poor quality photo)
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09/05/01...
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Working on details of the masonry wall. The items on display in the gallery show in the background. |
09/06/01...
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This scene, on my easel in the gallery, pretty well shows my second pass over the underpainting. I've developed the monsoon sky, the distant foothills and foliage. I've painted in some dark shapes that will become sage and rabbit bushes and things develop.
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09/14/01...
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Here I am using my mahl stick to reach some of the details. You can see some reference photos from wupatki sitting on the lip of my easel. This became a study in color perspective as I developed color from the distance toward the foreground. Color and detail went from bland to brighter as I got closer to the front of the scene.
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09/14/01...
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Here's a picture without me in the way, the painting at this stage.
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09/28/01......
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Here's an example of just how tedious this kind of work can become. Nearly two weeks work has been done on the painting since the last photo. Yet, at first glance, it isn't so apparent. Highlights and lots of details have been added to the miles of open space filled with bushes in the distance. The moenkopi sandstone outcroppings have been refined a bit. Hours have been spent building intricate details in the foreground boulders, even adding some petroglyphs on the first panel. And if you look carefully you'll notice that the entire middleground has been repainted, creating thousands of stones and gravel textures, including a partially buried ceramic pot.
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09/28/01...
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This close up photo better explains my comments above. Here you can see better the attention to detail in the masonry wall, the gravel floor and the sandstone texture.
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10/05/01...
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Here I've glazed a burnt sienna and black transparent color over much of the foreground enriching the tones and harmonizing the scene. I've indicated by color that some of the bushes are rabbit bushes in bloom, they are greener with small yellow flowers. I've begun the branches of the large sand sage that will appear in the two left panels. I've begun the ephedra (Mormon Tea) bush near the metate.
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10/12/01...
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And here's the finished painting. It was purchased by Northern Arizona University for permanent display in the Wettaw Building.
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