Thunderhead

Another in my thunderstorm at sunset series.  18x24 Oil.

Here's a detail image of the painting in progress. The tress and field are under painted with mostly burnt sienna.

A few of the details.

Abstract beauty of clouds.

Lately I've been fascinated with the abstract beauty of clouds.  Form, color, pattern, shape, and design. I've painted multiple small pieces, 6"x 8" or 8"x 10" attempting to capture the elusive mood created at late afternoon, early evening, or just before sunrise. As I have mentioned, I shoot numerous photos when the sky is dramatic. I'm read that forest fires in Canada and out west this summer have had an influence on the color we have seen this year in Wisconsin. This is a larger painting 18"x 26". It has a split complimentary color scheme, although I didn't specifically plan it that way.

I don't have images of the process this time, but I may post some of the smaller paintings later.

Mt Lemmon Drive

Mt Lemmon is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona.  At
9,159 feet, the drive up offers great views of the valley and mountain ridges below.

This is a private commission, painted from photo reference that was provided along with the aid of some research. I've hiked in the area and have taken photos but not of this specific view. I relied on the personal impressions from the client for inspiration.

 

After deciding the basic drawing and composition for this painting, I explored numerous color variations. The studies in the image above were all painted digitally in Photoshop. They allow me to think thru various directions relatively quickly, but I still prefer to create the final color study in oils.

I did 4 oil studies before I felt I was ready to move on to the final painting. The last image being the final study.  These are in my sketchbook and about 9" wide. I refer back and forth to them as I work on the final.

This is a photo of my drawing board with the painting in progress. At this stage the drawing is blocked in with acrylic paint. You can see the final color study on the left, along with various reference photos.

 

This shows the painting in progress. The plants in the foreground are partially blocked in, the background is in but not quite complete. I generally work from the background to the foreground although I don't finish one area completely before moving on. I make adjustments back and forth as the painting develops.

Mt Lemmon Drive 18x26

 

Abstract qualities

Often while I paint, I focus almost completely on abstract qualities.  That was the case with this painting. Broken impressionistic color, brush energy, thick vs thin paint, pattern, design, and dark vs. light passages.

Color and shape studies.

Details.

Luminosity

Morning sunlight breaking through the fog, back lighting the trees; the leaves glow with luminosity.  This painting came together slowly. I did color studies first, but the values and color intensity needed subtle adjustments as the painting developed.

The final digital color study.

The sketch book color studies.

 Detail 1.

 

Detail 2.

 Detail 3.

 Detail 4.

Detail 5.

These first three images of the process are mostly under painting.

I start with the back ground, then then foreground elements, but I also jump back and forth making subtle refinements.

You'll notice some color shifting that is a result of the photograhpy.  I did some minor adjustments of the color to the final image in Photoshop, but not to all the images of the process. 

The final.

Catalina Mountains, Romero Trail #1

The Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson are beautiful and distinctive.  I found them very challenging and rewarding, but mostly challenging to both hike and paint.  The terrain is very textural, huge rock formations with spotted clumped vegetation. Single photos represent a small bit of the visual experience.  On multiple trips I've taken hundreds of mediocre photos, here are a few that I am using to create a new painting.  This one has nice shadow and light shapes, like most of my photos there is a glare across the lens.  Not the artistic lens flares like in movies, but the annoying kind.

Nice composition and a bit of the atmosphere that was very evident in person, but it is a struggle for mediocre photographers to capture.

Ah that beautiful texture that's so difficult to paint. Painting every detail of the rock and scrub brush would take more patience than I have, and would make for a less intriguing painting.  The challenge is to suggest detail with brush strokes and edit shapes to create pleasing rhythm and design.

This photo is less mediocre.

On to the composition, color, design; what to edit out and what to make the emphasis. I complete most of this work digitally. This stage is one of the most fun and challenging, (there's that word again).  I often spend quite a bit of time in this stage, yet every painting is still edited more as the stages progress.

I draw the composition about 12" wide, and grid it up so I can draw it on the painting surface. I don't create full size drawings and transfer them anymore. I used to work that way, but that's very challenging.

Often I create multiple color comps in a sketchbook; I was pretty happy with this one.  The camera, as always, distorts the color and values, compressing the range.  So you cant see that I was emphasizing the broken color passages.

This is all "preliminary work" as Joel Nakamura would say. I haven't yet started the final painting, stay tuned.

Sabino Canyon, Bear Canyon Trail.

I haven't posted as frequently as I had intended to lately, that doesn't mean I haven't been painting. I plan to post more regularly in the future. This is a new painting completed a few weeks ago, depicting the Bear Canyon Trail that leads to Seven Falls in Sabino Canyon, Tucson, Arizona.

 

When hiking I typically walk about 7 steps, stop, take a photo, hike another 7 or 8 steps and take another photo and so on, until the memory card in my camera is full. Consequently I spend tons of time studying reference and concept images for a painting. Many of the concepts show promise but are never realized as a finished oil painting. Case in point, this photo (and many similar ones 7 steps apart) was intriguing because of the low warm morning light, and long cool cast shadows. I also wanted to include the natural look of the desert plants in the various stages of growth and decay. Much of the decay has great character and interest (to be explored more in future paintings). As I was working through ideas my thinking was side tracked by the memory of hiking up and down the rocks, and this image didn't convey the elevation change.

Here is a digital color study based on the above photo reference, along with other photos of the rocky cliffs and bluffs. The concept became too busy. I was trying to paint too many concepts at once.  Morning light, decayed and non decayed vegetation, the magnificent peaks and jagged rocks...

Magnificent peaks and jagged rocks. Are they not magnificent?! I should do a painting with them as the focus.

Another worthy subject to add to the list of concepts, crazy variations in the shape of the saguaro.

I also wanted to emphasize the canyon. We hiked up between two giant ridges of rock, it was an amazing day.

More crazy saguaro cactus. If I paint the actual specific shape will it look too fancy-full, and not believable?

So I decided to try to create a paining with crazy cactus, and warm low morning light, magnificent rocky peaks, that tells the story of hiking up the canyon. This is an early digital concept. I felt the foreground was too busy.

Better, but the color is too...dramatic?

Closer?

 

Better.

 

In the end did I choose to combine too much? Was I able to bring the concepts together, and create a harmonizing painting?  Most of my paintings are about light, shadow and atmospheric depth. These subconsciously create a foundation that the other concepts can play upon.

 

Here's the finish. 18" x 24" Bear Canyon Trail.