Potomac Gold, 24″ x 20″ , UART 320 board

Underpainting with alcohol

Painting as it was in late October

Today I finished the painting I was working on last fall when I broke my arm!  I thought it would take a lot more time but I decided I was pretty happy with it and called it quits.  What was really interesting about the painting was that I learned how to do negative painting.  This happened first in the sky.  The dark green branches were too thick as I originally laid them in so I used the blue pastel I’d used for the sky and started “sculpting” them.  It was really fun and resulted in leaf forms.  Today I did it again with the dark green bush at lower left.  I put in the darks and laid several colors on over, then the branches that are standing out.  The whole shape was too dark and massive. So I used the blue of the water to cut it back, allowing more greens to become little branches.   This is really fun!

I simplified this picture, particularly at the bottom. There were a lot more rocks and sandy patches.  I first added them in, then decided they were a distraction and removed them. I decided to concentrate on the colors and light and reflections in the water.  I”m glad I did as I think it works.

I had to make up the bottom right as it wasn’t like this. No opening of sand as I have added, but I think it’s an important entry into the picture.

I wanted the yellow greens of the tree to be the primary focus.  But the blues in the water are pretty strong.  I added a thin layer of orange Girault over it to try to gray it a bit. Not sure that worked but there’s so much orange in the upper left that it made sense to have more in the water.  I also added a piece of light on the sand at the edge of the water and the tree branch seems to be pointing to it.  So I like this touch.

It’s kind of hard to paint brilliant autumn in drab January!  I”m certainly not inspired by what i”m seeing outside.  But I was happy to finally finish this painting after it sat in my studio for two lonely months!