Quent Cordair Fine Art

If this painting had been intended only as an illustration for an 8 inch book cover, it would not have required a lot of fine detail. Actually, as part of a series originally intended to be quick figure studies, a lot of detail should not have been needed either. As you can see in this image, however, this piece has a LOT of detail. I am a big fan of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, especially Millais and Hunt. While their choice of theme was not always ideal, their execution was unbelievable and their attention to detail (especially Hunt’s…though I think Millais was the better painter…) is staggering. Compared to their level of detail, this piece is loosely painted. Now, I don’t think that detail is necessarily required in an effective work of art. In fact, I think it can be distracting if it is not subtly used or if it is over-emphasized. When used well, I think detail adds a lot to a work of art. It adds interest to be sure, but it also adds context. It makes the image more real. It also shows skill on the part of the artist. The downfall of many high detail paintings is that the overall structure of the composition is either ignored in favor of the details, or just lost among them. The painting needs to be visually effective at a distance and as a whole, not just on close inspection. And of course, there is a point where any finer detail would be superfluous, wasted effort. As soon as the mountains in the background of this piece were painted, I was committed to a relatively high level of detail. In order to avoid a flat looking image, each successively closer layer of background has to have higher contrast, more detail and better focus than the one behind it.

Moving back to front I painted the background landscape. The mountains and hills are not exactly based on any real location, but the color scheme and the general forms are based on the Wasatch Mountains near my home in Utah which are very similar to what can be found in many of the western states.

The bushes in the foreground, by the way, are not yet complete. What you can see here is just the base color which will have to dry before the final details can be added. I will have to use a similar technique while painting the gravel and rocks along the tracks. As I work on this piece I can’t help but notice how much I have improved since my first attempt to paint this idea almost eight years ago.

After stretching and priming the canvas as I have described in earlier studio posts, I used a grid to transfer the scale sketch onto the canvas. Some people seem to think that this is cheating, but if the purpose of the scale sketch is to get every detail of the composition just right, then why start over on the canvas where the sketching is more difficult and erasing is even more so? A stretched canvas is a delicate thing, and if you want it to last a long time, you should mess with it as little as possible.

Once the sketch on the canvas was complete I painted the sky…the most extreme background element. To add a sense of vastness to the background and size to the train I let the high level clouds loosely recede back to the same vanishing point as the tracks.

This is the composition exactly as it will appear on the canvas. There are several obvious differences between this image and the compositional sketch. The train is more accurately drawn. I based the train on several photos of diesel passenger trains from the 1020’s to the 1940’s selecting the characteristics that most appealed to me. I then used simple three-point perspective to render the train from the same vantage point as the reference photos of the figure. (For those of you who are picky about this sort of thing, as I am, I assumed that the track drops slightly and begins turning to the right as it moves away from the figure.) The aspect ratio of the composition is also different. The taller image allows the train to be closer to the figure and creates a more dynamic composition. Also the burning oil fields in the background are missing. There are several reasons for this. As a cover idea, the image qualified more as an illustration than a work of fine art. As such it relied on the story to give meaning to elements such as the oil fields. As a stand alone work of art, the image needs to be independent of the story that inspired it so that it has meaning even to someone unfamiliar with its origin. The only hint available to viewer other than what can be seen in the picture is the title, Motive Force. Knowing the story adds to the piece, but not knowing it does not detract from it. Without the story, the burning oil derrick comes across just as destruction especially given recent world events.

I also decided after this drawing was complete to either change or simply eliminate the double ‘T’ logo on the front of the train.

Welcome back once again to the Artist’s Studio. That’s right… I am back for more. This composition is one I have been working on longer than just about anything I have ever painted. Years ago, I would guess about 1997, I began working on a painting based on the character of Dagny Taggart from Atlas Shrugged. From the beginning, the title of the piece was to be Motive Force, a reference to the powerful locomotive engine in the background, but more specifically to the figure of the woman responsible for keeping not just the train, but the entire railroad running. The theme is that behind even the most amazing products of the human mind is exactly that… a human mind: ultimately the most powerful motive force. My then fiancée, Sara, agreed to model for the figure. The reference material was perfect, the idea was great, but at that time I was not skilled enough to pull the piece off. I abandoned it after several weeks of work.

I kept the reference photos, and a few months ago decided to revisit the composition as part of an effort to think of possible cover ideas for the novel Atlas Shrugged (this effort also yielded the idea for my last piece Self Absolution of the Titan). This compositional sketch is the result. I didn’t intend to paint the piece right away, but the idea I had been working on since the Titan piece just wasn’t working out, and this one was ready to go.