Ride to summer camp
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| 14x20 |
The photo reference I used for this piece was taken about 30 years ago. As a family we planned a trip with 5 of our horses and the kids. Troy brought a friend. We went for about 1 week into the Emigrant Wilderness next to Yosemite. This particular photo was taken by my son across an open meadow high up on the trail. The picture itself was not the best to use but did give me the sense of our crossing it. I remember it was warm, and there was plenty of Lupin flowers growing in the open. We sometimes would come across others hiking but this high up it was rare to cross someone else. My daughter and I rode, Nile rode off and on and gave the 2 boys a chance to ride at times. We went back into that country 14 miles. Mostly, followed lakes and would stop to camp and fish often. It is a wonderful memory for all of us. I rode taxi who was a huge red spotted leopard Irish thoroughbred, Wendi rode pokey, a well built quarter horse from Poco Bueno bloodlines. CJ and Buck carried our gear, Classey was ridden by Nile.
I look back on this photo and a few others from that trip with fond memories. All the horses have since passed on, kids grew up and moved away and Nile and I divorced. So that life is gone. I do miss all those things we did.
How did I get this all put together? I stared at this photo for years, knowingly that I longed to paint it but not quite sure what to say about it. So it stewed and stewed.
It's important to understand what attracts you to a scene or photo. What does the piece want to say? What kind of mood do you want to give the piece? For me this was about not only the beauty of the back country, but the quiet that comes with it. This is what it was like for the first settlers to come into California or the Indian tribes that dominated the area.
So I started with line drawings. I did this to work out the flow of composition. I knew basically what I wanted it to say.
As you can see I chose the vertical format. The important things for me about this scene is the majestic canopy of trees we were riding under. Thats what was important to me. All trees in the forest take years even hundreds of years to reach some of these heights. As a group of people that automatically becomes a focal point. I represented this as a square shape and made sure all lines lead to this shape
Next I examine the shapes. All shapes are divided by light and dark. Only these two things are considered. I am checking to see how the shapes connect to each other, are they pleasing shapes, and are they boring shapes? This is one point to make design changes in your planning process. This is your notan. It is the foundation that your painting will develop from. Each painting MUST be evaluated this way until it becomes a habit and can be seen without working out all these steps. In the beginning however, you must include all the steps to see design. Remember NO DETAIL at this stage of planning.
Ask your self; Do my shapes connect or is it spotty? How can I join these lines?
Next ask yourself; do these shapes feel balanced?
Next work out the values. I use a 4 step value process. White of the paper, middle light, middle dark and dark. I also use Tombow markers because they don't bleed through the paper. But, you can use varying pressure with pencil or pen. At this stage I follow Carlson's guide to landscape painting. He designates values by planes. The planes are the lightest light is the sky, mid lights are the flat planes across the landscape, mid darks are slopes or mountains and tree shapes are the darkest dark. This value step showen above follows his guidelines. This lays out how I begin my painting and how to stay true to the values so I don't get lost. When beginning a painting I use this as my starting point. Not the Photo. The Photo used at this point is ONLY used as a reference for placement of objects. Keeping in mind that I may have moved shapes to make a better composition.
Next I do a small thumbnail using this information and building on shapes and patterns. This may seem to have more detail but it really has only enough for me to work out basic information on the subject. I use this sketch to place my subject on the paper. I'm only concerned at this point that my shapes are correctly placed, that they are pleasing, and is my FP in the place I want it.
Next I did an underpainting. I know where my values are so I was able to pick some inktense art stick based on value. I used two dark shades of purple for the darks, yellow and oranges for the lights and just a hint of blue in the sky. I wet with this a very inexpensive stiff brush and water. I started with the sky and the lights and then went into the darks. I used a controlled amount of water in each section. Sometimes I got runs but I did try to control this somewhat. I also let the colors mingle in places. When this was dry I had a very vibrant underpainting to work with. At this point, the only color decision I had made was the compliment color set up for the underpainting and identifying the lights and darks with it. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of this.
I did however start with my darkest cool darks in pastel and a very light touch started to identify these places. I chose next some basic colors of the scene and in the lightest light I used warmer colors to move into those spaces. One I identified that, I decided I wanted the sky to be a grey color. Here I layered in light colors (same value) blues and oranges to create a grayed down but vibrant sky. I did leave larger areas of underpainting showing to continue to guide me with color choices.
As I continued through the piece, I let my intuitive sense take over and responded to color by its value, hue and intensity as I placed it around the painting. I know as things recede in a painting you have atmospheric conditions that cool color down, gray it and dull it. So when I addressed these areas I keep that in mind. I also know that complimentary colors vibrate when placed next to each other (even if they are grayed and dull). I love this about color. I like my color to sing out, so I paint that way. I always have had a sense for that. Some people have line, simple shapes and such that becomes your style. It does develop and we as artist just try to identify it and embrace it.
Over all I think this painting is successful. I leave it up for awhile to look at and see if and where it may need corrections. I do study other artist I like and see how they have worked through their pieces. I think, if it worked for them, maybe I can try it. I try to avoid ambiguity in lead in lines. If something looks like a bad shape or unclear I fix it. I don't go over the entire painting. At some point you have to trust yourself.
Happy Painting
Debi
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