Work In Progress, Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida, Update 1

          I’m going to try something different with this next painting. A different approach. In all my previous paintings I presented, as a first step, a completed preliminary drawing of the painting I was about to do, and then proceeded to paint it, explaining along the way how I accomplished each step. For one of my paintings I did present a few value and color thumbnails along with my thoughts. In this painting I want to go into a bit more depth in beginning stages – the thinking and planning stages. Most of the time it’s haphazard for me as I stumble through it, eventually coming up with a composition I like and then paint it. This time I want to do a more careful approach, showing the planning that goes into developing a composition. I’m doing it to help me be a little more methodical and thoughtful in planning out the painting and then executing it. Getting myself to consciously think through a composition – something I should be doing with every painting. The planning is the most important part and practicing it continually will make better paintings. That’s the idea, anyhow, and I certainly have a lot of room for improvement. In the process, this might also prove helpful to others who want to improve their paintings. My hope also is that other artists following this Work In Progress will contribute their own thoughts and comments that might improve upon the planning process.

            This is a commission piece and, as such, I will treat it that way, making decisions with the client’s wishes in mind. If it is purely the artist’s piece, decisions may be a bit different but if there is a desire to sell it, there still is a client out there to please.

The Subject: The reason for the painting in the first place

You start with a subject – something you want to paint a picture of. In this case it’s an osprey flying to its nest. This is a commission piece and it started with a photo taken by the client. It represents an exciting moment for the client, who just happened to see and then photograph an osprey coming back to a nest of fledglings after an excursion out to sea. The osprey, a majestic and beautiful bird of prey, its wings outstretched, is silhouetted against the sky – as is its nest and precious contents, high in a tree. When the client sees the finished painting we want it to be close to her recollection of the event, to evoke that same feeling of when she originally captured it. At the same time, the composition must be good enough to develop those same emotions in first time viewers, some of whom may have seen something similar in the past. The elements of the composition must have a relationship with each other that ties the whole together.

The photo, shown here, is from the client’s cell phone, the only camera available at the time to record the special moment. It depicts a lucky instant, just one in a train of images the client saw as the bird flew closer and eventually landed on the nest. But it is the one that the client wants a permanent record of – and one I am honored to do for her.

Medium, Size, Format and Proportions

            While some artists work in only one medium, I have not yet decided to put all my efforts into one particular one. I love both colored pencil and watercolor. I prefer colored pencil for portraits and close up studies and love watercolor for landscapes. In this case the client had no preference, so I’m leaning toward watercolor because of the large expanse of sky. But I’m not ruling out a combination of the two, as I did with the Sandpipers. That’s not a critical decision and by the time I start I’ll know which one (or both) I want to use.

            Size is another client decision and in this case she wants a larger painting. A larger size will have a bigger impact. Final size is a joint decision, based on what the client wants in the painting or wants to leave out. Or, the client may have no preferences at all and leave it all to the artist. They may only be interested in the subject. In this painting, the client is interested in the relationship of the bird to the nest. As long as I give a good representation of the original encounter, the details and their arrangement are my responsibility. At this stage in the planning process, I’m thinking that the largest dimension will be about 28”.

            Format, whether vertical or horizontal are also joint decisions where a client is involved. The client may have a particular spot in mind to hang it. The painting may look better in one or the other formats.

            Proportion is another decision that will have to be made before the painting is started. It also is based on content, what’s included and what is not, how the cropping is done.

            Format and proportion will be decided after preliminary thumbnail drawings are made.

            These are some of the considerations that have to be undertaken at the outset – before getting into the meat of the project. In the next Update I’ll discuss the second step in this process – composition - and how it will begin to answer some questions, such as size, format and proportions, and get us a step closer to painting.

             The first photo is the original one taken by the client, showing the osprey on its way back to the nest. It is in a horizontal format. The second photo is a cropped version of the first, showing the same scene in a vertical format. It is a bit tighter, showing less of the surrounding landscape. As I work through composition possibilities I'll decide which is the format I want to use.

Work in Progress Update, Eatonton, Georgia, Residence, Update 4

In this Update the rendering of the Home is complete. The brickwork has been painted in, lawn has been added and the tree trunks completed. A bit more shading in the portico and curtains has also been added.

First, the brick chimneys and walk were painted in. Here, cadmium red, raw umber and burnt umber were mixed to give the reddish – brown color I felt it needed. I painted in three or four washes to get the depth and intensity, tweaking it with a bit more red or umber with each wash to bring it to the final color. The washes were done wet on dry.

In between, I re-drew the lion statues on the pedestals and then inked them in.

Using hooker’s green, raw sienna and ultramarine blue in various combinations I washed in the lawn on both sides, wet on dry, quickly and simply indicating grass.

Next, using thin washes of paynes grey, I underlined each row of siding on the house, giving some shading under each board. A bit of shading was added to each lion statue and more detail to the curtains in the windows. More washes were also added to the portico to increase depth.

Finally, the tree trunks were painted in with thin washes of raw umber and some more pen and ink line work was added to the tall tree on the right.

This completes the pen and ink and watercolor rendering of a Home Portrait of a residence in Eatonton, Georgia. It will be matted and framed, then added to a display of my paintings now hanging at Brannen Bank in Dunnellon, Florida.

The subject for my next painting is an Osprey. It’s a commission piece from a photo taken by the client on Lover’s Key, off the west coast of Florida. I’m going to do something different in my approach to this painting, so stay tuned.

Work in Progress, Eatonton, Georgia, Residence, Update 3

            The addition of watercolor.

After most of the inking had been done I stopped to consider adding watercolor. It may be that additional pen and ink line work will still need to be added and I will only know that after watercolor has been added. The watercolor is meant to give color to the drawing and not detail. All the detail is in the pen and ink work but the watercolor will give more tone and shading and liven up the painting. In addition, the watercolor will lend more three dimensionality to the painting.

The first task was to paint in the sky. Here, I wanted the suggestion of clouds in a blue sky but nothing specific to draw attention away from the subject. First, I primed the paper with two washes of clear water. While still plenty damp (but not glistening wet), I washed in Winsor blue, wet in wet, leaving areas of white to indicate clouds. I even used a paper towel here and there to remove paint from some areas to heighten the white of the clouds. Then, I let it dry.

Next, I painted in the trees – to the left, behind the house and to the right. I used Hooker’s green, raw sienna and French ultramarine blue. The raw sienna warmed the green, dulled it a bit and made it more olive green in color. Olive greens just look better in landscapes, I think, so I try to always keep my greens on that end, unless I specifically need something else.

Because the foliage will be splotchy and non-uniform, I painted wet on dry, starting with lighter values and varying the combination of colors to keep variety in the greens – a bit more raw sienna here or there, then darker some places than others, dabbing to indicate leaves. I then mixed up darker versions of the mix and went over the shaded areas of pen and ink, blending it outward to the lighter areas. I left the trees behind the House lighter and simpler, with less variety of tones, because they are further away. I made several passes, stepping back here and there to assess the progress, looking to see if I needed any more color. There was an unconscious tendency to add detail as I went, so I had to resist giving in to it. I kept reminding myself that the color was playing a supporting role.

Once I was satisfied with the trees, I painted in the roof. Here, Cadmium red, Permanent rose and a bit of Hooker’s green to dull the mix seemed to work. Here I wanted a smooth and uniform color, so I primed the roof first with two washes of clear water. Then I washed in the color. I prefer many times to start out with a lighter layer because I can always creep up on the intensity I want and I did that here. Three or four additional washes of color were added, always preceded by two washes of clear water. I always made sure the previous color was completely dry before laying on a clear water wash.

Using the same combination of greens, I painted in the two trees in front of the House and then the boxwood hedge. Where I felt it was necessary, I added more pen and ink work, for branches in the trees or additional foliage work. I may add more later if I think it needs it. That’s a big help – knowing that I can alter things here and there as it becomes necessary – tweaking it – a bit more pen and ink, a bit more color.

More pen and ink work, or watercolor, or a combination of each may be necessary in the final stages to get to a final painting, but this is a good start. There’s not too much left here to do and I believe this will be completed in the next Update.

Work in Progress Update, Eatonton, Georgia, Residence, Update 2

            In this Update most of the House in inked in. Using the lightbox saved a great deal of time and increased the accuracy of the drawing. Inking went fairly rapidly, using a T square, triangle and a drafting ruler. Very little measuring had to be done. I merely determined what size the House needed to be for the drawing, enlarged it and printed it out. Then, using the light box on my drawing table, traced it. After drawing in the House I went back and drew in freehand all the landscaping and trees.

            My first task was to ink in the House. For that I used a Rapidograph 3X0 pen. What took the most time was filling in the shutters and the front door. The shutters are framed out, with slats in the center, so I drew them in that way. I filled in the outer frame fully, then lined in the slats, leaving only enough light to show indicate light hitting the edges. I did the same for the front doors. I drew in the interior details, then filled in the doors with ink, leaving only enough white to indicate the detail work.

            After completing the portico I was a bit anxious to see what it would look like with watercolor added to help the shading, so I painted in some washes of Paynes Grey. Also added some washes in the windows. Although it added much to the drawing, more shading will be added later. I think the upper corners need to be a bit darker. I found that there was no danger of the ink bleeding out when water was washed over the lines, even when I brushed on a couple of washes. There was some concern that I’d have to leave the ink dry for 24 hours before applying a wash but that seemed unnecessary.

            After the House was pretty much finished, I started on the brick walk. Prior to inking, I first drew the walk in with pencil completely, then went over it with pen.

            Finally, all the surrounding landscaping was inked in. All the boxwood was done first, then the trees.

            When adding watercolor, there is always the question of how much ink work should be done first. How much shading should be done with ink and how much with paint? The ink is of primary importance and the watercolor plays a supporting role. This is a pen and ink drawing with watercolor, so pen and ink does most of the work. Since the House is the center of interest, I put the most pen and ink detail into it. The surrounding trees and shrubs frame the House but are support, so they will lack the detail the House has. I indicated some shading on the trees in the darkest areas only and then to bring out the House. More pen and ink can be added later if it’s needed.

            So, with the pen and ink work pretty much finished, I will be adding the watercolor.