Art class coming - decisions, decisions

A new art class is to start April 2nd - the Wednesday after we come back from England. So decisions need to be made now - rather than last minute. Below are the candidates for the basis of the painting to be created during art class. The first one is the 'whole picture' and the second one is a crop of the first one. The second one, to my mind, follows the 'rules' of art better - the waterfall is NOT centered, as it is in the top picture, but the top picture has more interesting stuff in it.



The consensus of opinion seems to be that the first picture is better. My goal is to offer an impression of the lonely feel of "Ireland in November" (the working name of the painting), when it's rainy and chilly and the sun doesn't impart much warmth - in its light or its presence. This picture is taken in Galway County, on the way to Waterford from Letterfrack. This is the northern stretch of the ancient kingdom of Connemarra, a wild and open land; lonely, yet filled with the echoes of legend.

Which do you favor, as the basis for my painting?

Playing Around

I was playing around with the next to last image of my painting in a Photoshop-like program called GIMP, which runs in Linux. (There is also a version for Windows.) The results are below.



I took the picture to a 'grayscale' and ran it through the 'cartoon' filter. Cool, huh?

I use this as a 'wallpaper' on my system. You are free to click on the picture, download it and save it on your system, and use it as a wallpaper if you wish.

1st change - 2nd painting

Okay, I said I wasn't going to publish the picture I'm using as a basis for my new painting again. And technically, I'm not. It's a different picture. I have decided to shift the view I'm painting downward - to show more of the harbor and foreground and less of the sky. To me, the reflections in the harbor are more interesting than the relatively washed out sky. Plus, the plant which is lower right, in profile, gives better balance to the overall piece. It establishes a triangle of interesting points in the painting - the boat, the sunlit wall and the backlit plant. And, of course, the reflections contained within that triangle.

The black and white photo is there to help establish the light and dark values for the underpainting. When it's done, the B&W will be replaced by the color shot sitting on the easel. And the painting will become colorful. Hopefully, nicely colorful.

In it's frame

I found this frame at Hobby Lobby. I had this kind of frame in mind when I went out to look, but I wasn't sure I could find one. But - I did.



Now all I have to do is find somewhere to hang it.

Ta Da!

It is, finally, as done as it's going to get. What you see below, with the initials in the lower right hand corner, is "Derelict in Harbor". Is it perfect? No. Am I done messing with it? Yes. I can't make it any better, so it's time to stop.



The subject of this painting still lies beached along the quay in Ballynakill Harbour near Letterfrack, Galway Co., Ireland. Her superstructure has collapsed toward the quay, so that from the angle of this picture, her deck structure is no longer visible. She also has company that didn't exist at the time this painting documents. There is a large tramp steamer on the other side of the quay - also permanently beached. At least she's not alone.

The beginning of the second

I have taken the first few steps toward creating my second painting. There have been some decisions made and there are some decisions yet to be made. But the first step has been taken- I have created a 'toned ground'. See below ...



On the right is a blank, white canvas, which I have placed there in order to demonstrate what I have done by toning the ground. The canvas on the left is the beginning of the piece - the 'toned ground'. In the middle of the two is the picture on which I am going to base the painting. This is the only time I'm going to post this picture here (or anywhere). The reason is that this picture is the BASIS for the painting - it will give me direction - but the painting may wind up looking very unlike this picture. I just thought it might be informative to see what I'm starting from.

So I have made two decisions - to publish the picture and to tone the ground with acrylic paint. Another decision I've made is to do the work in oil, not acrylic. The underpainting, which will be next, will be in acrylic, but that's as far as acrylic is going to go in this piece. It's easier to work in oil - and I think it takes more skill than I have right now to work well in acrylic.

As far as decisions which have yet to be made, they involve some technical stuff like 'where am I going to place the horizon line?', 'what elements of the picture am I going to include in the painting?' and 'where are the elements I'm going to include going to be placed?'. Then, of course, there's the decision regarding style - I am going to paint this with heavy, textured strokes (Impasto) - the more impressionist style, or I am going to paint this with thinner, less textured paint in a more realistic style? The subject would seem to lend itself to either style. I'm going to have to think about that. But not very long.

This, by the way, is an element of the first painting which was left out for the sake of simplicity. I suppose it bears mentioning that the first painting is not done yet. I need a break. I will finish it when the time is right.

Comments, as always, are welcome.

And even more changes

Well, I think we're done playin' around with the clouds now and except for a little (very minor) detail work, the mountain will remain unchanged. The green hills across the bay still need work and there's some minor work that still needs to be done to the various reflections and tones in the still water of the harbor.

See below .....



You may have noticed a little change in the road. It isn't done yet, but this new direction is truer to the original photo and I feel more comfortable now, working toward this end, than I did when I first started the painting.

I still don't have a 'style'. I am still finding my way through the maze of different ways to represent reality in paint. Or the impression of reality. Each bend and twist in the maze is a learning point. Hopefully, the next piece will be a little easier - not in concept or execution, but in establishing and maintaining direction, form and style.