Stages

Hello again. It's been so long since I last updated my blog I had to look up my password (and it didn't even seem familiar). I was afraid this would happen when I decided to start a blog, but there are several things happening so I'll try to a better job with updates......yes really, I'll be better.

For this post I thought I'd take you through the stages of a painting. Some artists enjoy giving painting demonstrations, but it's not very likely I'll be doing that any time soon. When I'm working, I tend to block out everything around me, so I'm not so good with an audience. Instead of a live demonstration I decided to take photos of my latest painting while it was in process.

For the first step, I added a rough outline and started blocking in or adding large areas of color.

Next I finished adding the main areas of color. I typically start out with thin layers of paint and continue with more and more layers to build up colors and texture.

In this stage I added other elements to the painting. Here I've added the tractor, the focal point of the scene.

The final stage is where I added details like highlights on the tractor and shadows across the barn. For this painting I also added a tree behind the barn for balance. I usually sketch the whole scene before I start a painting, but sometimes I make changes as I go along.

Sometimes it's hard to know when a painting is done and when to stop working on it. There are times I wish I had an "undo" button. If you were able to watch me painting, you'd probably see me squinting and making weird faces on my way to a finished painting.