Change of Season
A good friend of mine took a trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, last October.
They captured a variety of photos that really captured the beauty of the Fall
season in the high country. And they were kind enough to offer these to Rita
as reference material. Thank You!!! (Please note, Rita is always looking for
good reference material. We accept email and snail mail. But please indicate
that you're giving Rita permission to use that material.)
So Rita reviewed the photos and identified several that really hit her sweet
spot, i.e. passion to paint. So, we don't know exactly where this photo was
taken. But Rita fell in love with the imagery of this photo and had to paint
it first.
Original Reference Photo:
Next week, we'll post her first sketch of this scene. What would you change?
Are there any design elements that you would insert or delete? Her first
sketch begins to answer these questions.
2/26/05 Update:
Below is Rita's first sketch. It's a 5.5X8.5 sheet of paper. So it's not a
large sketch. But it does help her to better visualize how the image will
look. If you compare it with the original photo there are differences, but
these are fairly minor. The overall composition is very close to the original
photograph. Rita will do these sketches when she has time on her hands. This
particular sketch, was done over several days as she had the opportunity. At
the time she was sketching, she was enjoying the process of putting it on paper.
But she had not made the decision to go ahead with the painting.
Obviously, she decided to paint it! And once that decision was made, her goal
was to complete it prior to the Ward Parkway show.
3/4/05 Update:
Below is Rita's actual sketch on a half sheet of watercolor paper. She does
stretch her paper on the board and I did not show all of the staples on the
perimeter of the paper. The trees in the foreground on the left side are the
easiest to see. You can also see the river bank through the center of the
paper. And you can see some of the trees behind the river bank (OK, they're
very hard to see because she has sketched them so lightly.). The light brown
orange color is a mask Rita paints to protect the white of the paper. Every
snowflake and patch of snow must be protected from the initial washes of
watercolor paint. Because the Aspen trees on the left have white in their
bark she will also paint them with the mask. One downside to the mask is
that it must be picked up within 24-48 hours or it begins to pick up the
paper itself. So once this step is done, there is some time pressure
involved. For this particular piece, painting on the mask was very tedious,
i.e. every snowflake!
Next week, we'll post the first of three images of the painting in progress.
And to be honest, I had taken some additional pictures, but I didn't have the
lighting correct. Therefore those images didn't turn out. So next week's
image will be approximately at the half-way point of the painting.
3/12/05 Update:
If you will recall, I indicated last week that this picture represents the
half-way point. As I'm viewing the picture itself, it looks closer to 90%
complete. Let me clarify for you, we're approximately half-way time wise.
What's left are very tedious and time-consuming tasks and we'll discuss those
in more detail in the last week's update.
Layers! Think about layers!! Rita will paint from the back to the front of
the piece. She will work on one area and while it is drying, then begin
working on another layer. The key is to blend the layers together so that
you have a seamless view of the image. While she paints from the back to
the front, other artists will paint from the front to the back. The choice
is up to each individual artist.
Generally, here's the sequence of the painting by layer:
1. The sky
2. The trees left of center and above the bend of the river
3. The river
4. The right bank
5. The left bank
The trees (#2, #4 and #5) are really comprised of multiple layers themselves.
The right bank is the easiest to see this. The trees at the back of hill
were painted first and then Rita moved forward to the front. Colors at the
back or more muted to help reflect the distance factor and become more
intense as you move forward. Note how the trees (#2) at the front are about
the same color as the trees at the back of the right bank (#4). So you must
keep all of the layers coordinated.
Please remember that all of these steps are done with the mask still applied
(discussed in last weeks update).
So here's the more specific sequence:
1. Rita paints the sky as a wash. Note that it goes from the left side to the
right side. This ensures that everywhere there is a gap in the trees, you can
see the sky.
2. Rita paints the back layer of trees and lets it dry.
3. She paints in the river as a wash, adding darker colors to the foreground.
4. Next she paints the back layer of trees on the right bank and lets it dry.
5. And does the same for the left bank.
2. After the back trees have dried, she paints in the foreground trees.
4 and 5 (alternating). She begins bringing the trees forward on both banks.
And the colors become darker and more intense. However, she wants to maintain
the misty/swirling snow effect between the trees. So she frequently alternates
between the two banks, letting the opposite bank dry. And if it isn't dry when
she comes back, out comes the hair dryer.
5. After the pine trees have been painted, then Rita proceeded to paint the
background layer of the scrub brush around the aspen tree (which is still masked
off).
2 and 4. Using the same color as the scrub brush, she paints some additional
scrub/brush effects in both of these areas. It helps to begin tying all of the
layers/sections into one cohesive piece.
All of this took approximately 2 days to paint. But please understand that Rita
will spend a considerable amount of time planning the approach before she ever
touches the paper.
3/18/05 Update:
This week, you will not see as dramatic of change as the previous week. Before
she began painting, all of the mask is rubbed off (with the exception of the
snowflakes). (It has the look and feel of rubber cement.)
On the right bank, she completes the brush work. On the left bank she begins to
fill in the brush in lower left corner.
Next comes the tedious and time consuming portion.
3/25/05 The Final Update:
Now comes the tedious part of detail painting. (By the way, I interviewed
Rita before I wrote this out.) I was thinking (incorrectly as it turns out)
that she would finish the detail in one area before moving to another area.
Not so. She would paint on one area. And when she grew tired of painting that
she would move to another area (excluding the snowflakes). It basically falls
into the following areas:
- Right bank
- Left bank
- leaves
- aspen trunks
- brush trunks
- grassy texture
- Snowflakes
On the right bank, you can see that she added more texture to the snow so that
it didn't look deep enough to cover the entire bank. The colors also tie into
the same colors she used on the left bank.
The leaves in the aspen trees (left bank) were painted first, leaving some white
of the paper to indicate snow. She used the same colors to paint all of the
leaves and help tie that texture between the aspens and the brush below. Darker
colors were used to reflect shadow areas.
The aspen tree trunks were painted in layers. She would continue to add color
until she liked the contrast and texture. She'd paint and leave it alone.
Evaluate. Paint some more and so on.
The brush trunks were the most tedious portion to paint. Many thin lines,
leaving white for the snow. But each trunk painted individually. Hours and
hours. Rita is not sure how long, since she would change up and work on another
area to help break the tedium.
In last week's update, she had painted in the base colors for the grassy area in
the lower left hand corner (below the aspen). This week, she added additional
colors and texture to the area. The goal is to help tie this layer into the
overall image.
Once the detail had been painted, she lets the painting sit for a couple of days.
Actually, she doesn't let it sit in one place, but rather in one place in each
room she goes to. Now, there are exceptions! But when she is in the kitchen, for
example, it is propped on top of the microwave. As she cooks, her eyes will gaze
and look for trouble spots. Once a trouble spot has been identified and she has
figured out what needs to be done to correct it, off they go to the studio for
the fix. And this cycle is repeated from room to room, day to day until it passes
inspection.
But in this case, there's one more step to be done, i.e. the snowflakes! Early in
the process, Rita had applied mask for the right bank, the aspen trees, the brush
trunks and so forth. In last week's update, the mask had been removed from
everything except the snowflakes. Now the remaining mask is removed. And we have
instant snow! On the larger snowflakes, Rita would use a pen knife to soften the
edges, i.e. give more texture to the snowflakes themselves.
Finally, she gives it one more critical evaluation and then signs it, essentially
saying, it's done! And then she begins working on naming the piece. It starts out
with a few ideas. (This is when her family avoids her, otherwise we get pulled into
evaluating names.) Fortunately, she has a good friend who loves to help out (and to
relief!). After much discussion, 'Change of Season' is voted as the right name for
this piece. And it fits perfectly, just like it's a part of the image itself!