Thursday, March 24, 2011

The "do over"...almost a decade later


First Light on the Hay Field, 11 x 14
Completed this past week working from the
original painting (below).




Three Hay Bales at Sunrise, 8 1/4 x 11 3/4
Completed in 2002 from a glossy photo.


I thought it would be fun to redo an old painting from years ago, using only the original painting for reference.  Since the original was done before I started using a digital camera, my original reference photo was a glossy print, which I always found to drown out my dark areas.  Because of that, I didn't have good information to go on for my distant trees in my original painting.  Although I mostly liked this piece, I didn't care for that dark band at the top in which I tried my best to hint at those trees.  Since I've had this painting displayed in my studio for many years, I've had a long time to observe it, and many years of practice since I painted it the first time.  I liked the overall composition and kept that, but wanted to add more depth and a bit more definition to the top portion. I thought having some sunlight peek through the trees to open up that area would do the trick.  I also tried to add more richness to the color.  As with most artists, my use of color has evolved over the years, moving away from strickly local color. 

2 comments:

  1. Wow! What will your paintings be like 10 years from now? An artist never stops learning!

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  2. hi there barb, just going through the archives, seeing if i can pick up some tricks. so grateful to view your process over time. i see quite a difference in your work. more consistency now, a better handling of palette, and an overall quieter appeal. this all give me great hope for my own work and progress. i hope one day to be near a work shop of yours, i really like how you can articulate the issues. i relate to so much of what you say. thanks, your sharing is much appreciated, and very generous!

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