Quent Cordair Fine Art

At long last it is time to begin work on the figure. It is, perhaps, no surprise that in a figurative painting, the figure is usually the most rewarding and the most critical element to paint. For all of the work that has been put into the background of this piece, it is all just there to give context to the figure. As those of you who have watched the creation of my other paintings in the ‘Artist’s Studio’ are probably aware, I almost always paint the face first. Then I proceed with the hair, then the other flesh tones (hands, feet, whatever is exposed). The clothing I usually paint last. I have discussed the various reasons for this schedule before, but if you aren’t familiar with them don’t worry about it too much, none of it will apply to this painting. Why not? Well, the real reason is: just for fun. I thought I would make you all wait to see the face until the very end. Suspenseful huh? (Also, I don’t have any reference material I am really happy with for the hair yet either.) Anyway, I started by painting the pants. I began with the darkest tones (ivory black mixed with a touch of burnt umber and cad red) and blended in the lighter colors, finishing with the brightest highlights (the same yellow-orange used in the furnace). This technique works well for dark objects and allows me to gradually add highlights until the desired brightness and contrast is achieved (something essential for this painting since I am altering the lighting on the figure to match the background).

In addition to the work done on the pants, I also gave a little more attention to the beam against which the figure is leaning. Something about it just didn’t seem to be working. Sara mentioned to me that to her, it didn’t look like it was part of the foreground, and she was right. The colors and the contrast were making the thing feel like it should be further back, near the ladle, while the level of detail belonged in the foreground. To solve the problem I changed the color of the beam, bringing in more of the grays that would be expected in the steel and decreasing the effect of the red light from the oven. This moves the beam away from the background. I used colors from the brighter portions of the oven and from the molten metal to paint the highlights is order to keep the appearance that they (the oven and the metal) were still the light source illuminating the beam. I also used a darker color in the shadow areas to increase the contrast. After making these changes, I am much happier with the entire piece.

I have again included multiple images with this post. One full shot showing the overall state of the painting and with fairly accurate colors, and two detail shots, one of the pants and one of the re-worked beam.

Rather than sending in three or four posts for the detail work on the rest of the background, I decided to take advantage of the fact that I am a few days ahead of the ‘Artist’s Studio’ and send one comprehensive update. My motivation for doing this is that many of the changes would have been too subtle to notice on their own, but together they represent considerable progress on the piece. The glazing technique I am using over much of the background has the disadvantage (as far as my sending in images) of being highly reflective, making it difficult to get a good photograph of the painting. For this reason I have included four images with this post. The first is a straight forward, full shot of the piece. You can see how much the reflected light is interfering with the photo (especially in the upper, left corner). The second is also a straight on shot, but is a closer view of the pouring metal. In this image you can see more detail including the sparks, some of the atmospheric effects, rivets, etc. There is still quite a bit of glare on the left side. The third image shows the details of the crane, the beam and the sky. To get anything to show up clearly in this area (where the glaze is the wettest) I had to shoot the piece from an angle. This foreshortens the image, but at least you can see what’s going on. In particular, the colors are much better represented in this image than in any previous one. The fourth and final shot is also from an angle, but of the entire painting. Here you can get a feel for the overall color scheme of the piece.

In addition to fine tuning the colors and values of the background and painting in the details, I have also fixed the perspective problem with the big beam in the back wall of the mill (just below the windows) that was mentioned in a comment I received. There will be a few more, very minor touch-ups that will have to be made before the piece is finished, but I am going to save them for the end (allowing everything to dry) and move ahead with the figure. With this sort of painting it can be very easy to get caught up in every little detail, but at some point you just have to stop.

In this step I have begun the application of the final colors to the background. Depending on the area in question, the technique will vary a lot. The sky has been painted over entirely with opaque colors. Having the base coat in place makes it much easier to blend the final colors as there is no problem with the primer coat color showing through. I have reduced the amount of yellow in the sunset, and added more reds. In the darker clouds and the silhouettes of the smokestacks there is now less brown, and more violet. By keeping the yellows and earth tones of the interior of the mill out of the sky, a greater sense of depth is achieved. I also added highlights to the closer clouds and changed the shapes slightly to better match the perspective of the rest of the image. Inside the mill I started by laying down a very thin glaze of burnt umber and ivory black in linseed oil. The glaze is semitransparent and allows the base colors to show through. The deepness of the shadows was adjusted by controlling the ratio of the pigments to the oil and the thickness of the glaze coat. Highlights and fine details such as vapor, sparks and rivets could then be blended into the glaze. Near the stream of metal I gradually made a transition from glaze to pure color in order to blend into the wet titanium white. This process is basically complete for the area behind the crane and ladle down to the furnace. I will use the same technique to finish the furnace, the floor of the mill, the metal mould, the support beam and the crane. The ladle will need a bit of the same in the shadows, but pure paint touch-ups elsewhere.

All of the major elements of the background are now blocked in. The beam against which the figure is leaning went surprisingly well considering that I had no reference material for it at all. It helps that most of it will be in shadow. As you can tell, having all of the basic colors in place makes it a lot easier to see what is going on with the lighting. As I proceed to paint in the final shadows, highlights, atmospheric effects and other details, I will be able to adjust them based on the context of the entire background. This will give the final image a more coherent and realistic feel. In the same way, having the background environment complete before I paint the figure will allow me to change the color and intensity of the lighting to make it appear as if the figure is being illuminated by the light of the super-heated metal. When working from so many different sources, you have to rely both on what you can see in the reference material, and on what your brain tells you looks correct on the canvas. The more complete the painting, the more you can see what is working and what needs to be changed. As I eventually make the final touch-ups to the painting, I will not refer to the scrap at all.

These two images show the blocking in of the crane and the ladle. The crane, unfortunately, is one area that will need a lot of tweaking before I am happy with it. The scrap I have for it is poor, and the lighting will be tricky to work out. The ladle, on the other hand, I am already quite happy with, though it will need some deeper shadows, and some fine tuning along the rim. It will be much easier to tell exactly what needs to be done to both once the surrounding elements are completed. One challenge with the next few steps of this piece is definitely going to be the white of the metal. All of the surrounding colors that were mixed with at least small amounts of burnt umber are dry enough to paint over safely. The pure titanium white of the metal stream, however, is still very wet. Blending the second layers of color into this mix will be delicate work.