Early morning on the field...seems like a cool green/pink light, so I used a warmer grisaille and warm gray purples and burnt siennas in the underpainting. It is always better to use warmer color than you think is necessary in the "skeleton". Actually that can go as a rule for the whole painting. I feel that we as people need to resonate to our land and warmth is appealing. I tried to soften the edges of everything. I am still playing with that wonderful, new fixative. Della (the creator of the fixative) suggested I try smooshing it around with my watercolor. (Clean brushes well after). It has a different effect I can't quite describe yet....maybe "thicker, with substance." Check out this fixative. Here -spectra fix.
This is a studio piece and I continue to search for luminousity and mystery. I hope I made it warm enough. For reference I have my memory and the paintings I have done at this field so far.
Here is another quote from John Carlson:
"If you train yourself in memory work, you fearlessly attack and rearrange your material, for your can retain your original impression. Otherwise you have to return continually to your motif out-of -doors, with the result that successive and different impressions may engender ambiguous approximation in you picture."
That is food for thought.
grisaille/loose
watercolor underpainting
7 comments:
I so much appreciate reading through your last few posts...on memory work, on desiring to move on to new territory...I feel in a somewhat similar place and have been feeling a bit 'stuck' lately, so it's really good to read about your approach to keeping moving. I think I may just try it.
The field paintings are looking just so beautiful, and this one in particular, you sure got it on the edges.
As always, thanks for your thoughtful insights here!
You so caught what you were after, luminous as well as mysterious. It makes me want to go there.
I'm amazed by how strong this piece is at each stage in the process, Loriann. The grisaille and watercolor underpainting stand nicely on their own, I think, although they obviously convey a very different feeling then the final painting with it's rich, glowing yellows and greens.
Loriann: I love the development of this piece, especially the color harmony. And the Carlson quote is so timely for me. Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments!
Karen,It's funny because I think we are similar in many ways- plein air is my (our) true love and it's hard to imagine doing less of it. But there is a real draw to move forward and embrace fully the idea of using our memory as the essential tool. I would love to hear your plan as well. let me know. On another note... so much of the sensitivity is about edges;is that what you meant when you spoke about rolling the paint?
Susan,
Hi and a big thank you!
Hi Brian,
Thank you...it's funny this one one time when I did feel that i could have stopped at each step. But I would pep talk myself that I needed to take the risk to fully create my vision. It doesn't always work out...this time it did. yipee!
Hello Marianne, my friend,
That quote from Carlson is a beauty isn't it? As a constant reminder, it now graces my studio door.Now back to work!
Yes exactly! about rolling the paint...it was the way it changed the edges that really captured me. Because I too find that sensitivity issues/problems often lie in the edges. I'm looking there a lot lately.
Me too...edges are sensitivity.I still am having a hard time to understand the roll..I have tried to play with it. More practice I guess.
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