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By the Fountain: Step 1

By the Fountain

Welcome back to the Artist’s Studio. I am going to be working on another simple figure painting in the same series as the one last featured in the Studio. As with the last piece, the figure will be the most important element of the composition, however this time the background will be a bit more important and complex, and will be much more carefully painted. I will, nonetheless, be working as quickly as possible without compromising the quality of the painting.

I am using the same model and the same costume as in the last painting, and once again the reference photos were shot at the Salt Lake City Library, which, as I mentioned in the last installment of the studio, features a number of interesting architectural elements which I think make great backgrounds for figure paintings. The woman in this painting is observing a fountain set in concentric concrete rings. The mood is meant to be contemplative and relaxing, and once again the general theme is beauty.

The first step, as usual is the sketching of the canvas. This time I did the sketch in charcoal pencil after measuring in roughly twelve reference points, mostly to help lay out the perspective and foreshortening of the curves in the concrete. I have said before, but I think it is worth repeating that it is somewhat difficult to accurately sketch out a canvas of any reasonably large size without some form of reference, simply because when standing close enough to sketch, you can’t see the entire drawing clearly. This canvas is only 18” x 24”, but still large enough to warrant the reference points. I fixed the drawing with a very light mist of retouch varnish, and am now ready to begin applying paint.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 6th, 2005 at 10:49 am and is filed under By the Fountain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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About Bryan Larsen ~

Bryan Larsen

"I was born on February 12, 1975, and have been drawing as long as I can remember. By the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be an artist, although at the time I didn't have a clear idea of how exactly I would use my talents to make a living.

"As I continued studying art, I began to suspect that fine visual art was dead. No one seemed interested in teaching students how to draw well, or paint well. More often than not, my own skills exceeded those of my instructors.

"The only field left that seemed to require good drawing, painting, and compositional skills was illustration, and therefore I began studying illustration at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I became even more convinced that I had made the right decision in staying away from fine art as I endured course after course of required "drawing" and "painting" classes in which instructors required me to draw with "less focus", or use ridiculous materials such as shellac, glue, sand, salt, etc.

"My second year at Utah State, I met Damon Denys. In discussing Art with him I realized that there were other people who believed that technique and subject matter were indispensable components of any work of art. I then decided that I would work to develop my own painting skills with the purpose of creating artwork that I considered worthy of being called Fine Art.

"Since that time, I have studied on my own: Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.

"My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style."