Quent Cordair Fine Art

This image isn’t the greatest, but it shows, fairly accurately, the sketched canvas ready to paint. As I have discussed before, I usually use a grid method to transfer the final composition onto the canvas. You can just make out the grid lines in this image. In case you are wondering, the canvas (linen of course) has been sized with three coats of rabbit skin glue and then primed with two coats of oil based primer comprised of flake white (white lead pigment in cold pressed linseed oil), burnt umber, and yellow ocher. I use mainly ‘Old Holland’ oil colors, as they are the only commercially available brand I am aware of that uses only pure pigment in linseed oil, with no petroleum stabilizers. (This makes a world of difference to the lifetime of an oil painting.) The sketch is done in red watercolor pencil, which will not interact with the oil colors.

Using the figure and background studies as references, I proceeded to sketch out a final to-scale sketch of the composition. The first of the two images which accompany this post is the result. Most of the major details have, by this point, been worked out including the structural elements in the steel mill, wrinkles in the clothes, etc. If you are a careful observer, you may have noticed several minor changes, most notably to the crane carrying the ladle, where I have removed the upper portion to reveal more of the window space at the top of the composition.

Quite often I will complete a simple value study of compositions with complex or unusual lighting, or when I will be integrating a number of different reference materials and/or making up large portions of the background. This step (shown in the second image) can be time consuming, but it helps me work out a lot of the lighting issues before I begin applying paint. It also gives me a chance to preview the composition and make certain everything is working. After all, the contrast between and placement of light and dark shapes in an image is a much more important visual element of the composition than are the outlines of the objects. The study will also serve as a master reference during the painting, providing a visual link between the otherwise unrelated reference images.

At this point I am satisfied with the overall composition and am ready to sketch the canvas and begin painting.

Continuing on with the process of working out compositional details, it was time to finalize the background. In the first step, I made a lot of changes to the background in an effort to add some realism to the steel mill. I think I accomplished that goal, but at the loss of some of the visual elements I liked the most. In particular, I was unhappy with the elimination of the arc of molten metal falling through the air. In fact, I was not at all happy with the background. Not only did I miss the pouring metal, but I thought the new arrangement was a little too boring. In addition, Sara pointed out that it was not at all obvious what was going on (it seemed obvious to me, but only after several days of sorting through hundreds of images of steel mills). In the end I decided to completely change the background again. The book describes the tapping of an open hearth furnace, and the filling of a ladle that could hold 200 tons of molten metal. There is an awe inspiring, though brief, mention of the metal falling through twenty feet of space in a shower of sparks. I loved the image this suggested, but also loved the idea of the enormous machinery of the ladle pouring the metal into the moulds that would give it its final form. I decided to combine the two and depict the metal being poured, in a cloud of sparks, from the ladle.

As usual, I will be using multiple reference images for this painting: some for the basic design of the equipment, some for textures, and some for color and lighting effects (many of the best images of steel being poured from this era of steel production are black and white). Even with great reference material (particularly with multiple sources), one of the most essential elements of a convincing, realistic painting is the proper use of perspective. This is especially true when the subject matter includes architecture, machinery, or any other components comprised of straight lines and precise angles. I have included three images with this post to demonstrate the use of perspective in laying out the background for this piece.

In the first image, I have loosely sketched in the basic layout for the background and then, based on that sketch, placed a horizon line and three vanishing points, all well outside the picture frame. In general, the distance between vanishing points for lines at right angles to each other should be at least three times the largest dimension of the piece to avoid a fish-eye effect, though there are exceptions. Two of these vanishing points are for the major horizontals and one is for the main diagonals. (There are several good books on perspective for artists if you are interested in more details.) I am generally pretty good at eyeballing perspective. You may notice that most of my grey sketch lines match up fairly well with the blue perspective guide-lines drawn in afterward. The use of the vanishing points simply helps tighten everything up and catches any mistakes (notice the discrepancies in the bottom, right corner). It really shows in a finished painting.

In the second image I have used the perspective guide-lines to more exactly place the basic structure of the background. Once I was happy with the arrangement I sketched over it in red ink and then erased the looser layout lines.

In the third image I have used some reference material and red and black ink to render the major details and values of the ladle pouring the metal, and of the mill. The un-finished section is where the figure will eventually stand.

So, now I have a background for the painting that is reasonably true to life and that I am very happy with. I’ve managed to bring back the arc of molten metal from the original composition, keep even more of the sunset outside the windows, and to add a lot of architectural/structural elements which I love to paint. The next step is to combine this sketch with the figure study to create the final composition.

For those of you who have been regular visitors to the Artist’s Studio, I will be taking a slightly different approach with this painting. In the past I have generally waited until a noticeable amount of work has been done to the piece before I posted a summary and explanation to the Studio. I thought it might be more interesting to post more often, regardless of visual changes to the piece, to discuss the smaller steps involved with the composition and my thoughts on the piece as it progresses. This will mean new posts roughly every other day, though possibly shorter, and occasionally without accompanying images. Hopefully this proves to be interesting to read, and perhaps it will encourage more questions and comments on the development of the piece.

Now that I am beginning to get a feel for the arrangement of the piece I can begin to nail down some of the details, beginning with the figure. The reference material I took with the model is great for the basic pose and the body of the figure. However, the model is much younger than the subject of the painting is supposed to be, and isn’t quite as clean cut either. It isn’t always possible to find all of the characteristics you need for a particular subject in one model, although occasionally you do get lucky. In this case I will be using some additional reference material to change the style and color of the hair, and to age the figure. This sketch represents the composite figure that will, for the most part, appear in the final painting. Some additional work will be needed to get the lighting and the coloring just right for the steel mill environment.

The next piece I will be working on in the Artist’s Studio is another in the series based on cover ideas for Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. This time the subject is Henry Rearden, a steel mill owner and the inventor of a revolutionary metal alloy. In this painting, Rearden will be leaning against a steel beam in his mills, watching the pouring of the first heat of his new metal. The theme is pride in one’s greatest accomplishments. As I discuss the progress of this piece in the studio, I have decided to spend more time on the development of the composition from the original sketch to the final scale sketch before I move on to the painting itself. I think this will allow me to show a little more of the thought process involved in the creation of a painting.

I have included two images with this post. The first is the original compositional sketch, which is already featured in the Cordair Gallery. This sketch represents a preliminary idea for this piece, rendered in enough detail to make a good presentation. For the figure I used some old reference material originally taken for another piece. The background is completely made up. I wanted to show the size of the mills and the brilliant arc of molten metal pouring though space. I have always liked the effect of the high contrast I achieved in ‘Heroes’, between the blast of the rocket engines and the night sky, and I would like to do something similar here. The sky shown in the sketch would be just before dark as a brilliant sunset is fading into orange. The dimming light of the sun would set off the blinding light of the molten metal. The figure watches from a window overlooking the steel yard.

As I began researching reference material for the steel mill, I realized that a few things would have to change. To begin with, it turns out that pouring metal alloys isn’t quite the carefree process I depicted in the sketch. It’s too bad really. I liked the long, graceful arc of metal spilling several stories through the air. But, apart from safety concerns, there are a number of metallurgical reasons for a more controlled pour. I decided to change the composition to represent a more realistic event. After re-reading the passage I had in mind as the inspiration for the piece, I also decided to change the pose and the clothing of the figure and move the scene inside the mills. Already the composition had changed dramatically. As I worked on different ideas based on these changes, I really began to miss the sunset behind the steel mills in the original sketch. I resolved the problem by including a row of windows along the top of the wall inside the mills. The sunset, and perhaps even some of the smokestacks, will be visible outside. The backlighting from the windows combined with the blinding light of the metal will cause the details of the mill to be almost completely silhouetted, increasing the contrast and adding a lot of drama to the piece.

The next step was to bring in a model and get some preliminary reference material for the figure. I also gathered reference material for the steel mill, enough to get a rough idea of what would be in the background. The end result of all this is the second compositional sketch. Now, this sketch is pretty rough, and it is still far from final, but it gives a good idea of the direction in which the composition is moving.