Winter Evening: Step 16
The fire is, for the most part, finished. For reference material, I was able to find several different images of fires burning in various fireplaces, but not a fire I liked in a fireplace I liked, so as with most of the rest of the background, I combined elements from the various images, and filled in the rest with what seemed to look right to me. I blocked in all of the light colors first, the basic colors for the bricks, and a bright yellow-white for the shape of the flames. Next I went back over the bricks with the darker tones, adding shadows and texture where necessary. I used a very bright mixture of cadmium yellow, a hint of cadmium red, and titanium white as well as pure titanium white to add shape and varying degrees of brightness to the fire (Titanium white dries slowly, and has a tendency to become slightly more transparent when dry…so I will probably have to paint in at least one more layer of white over the flames later on). Next I painted the log in front of the flames using a technique very similar to the one used to paint the stones of the fireplace. When the log was finished, I painted the coals on the floor and the concrete of the floor. The shadows and the foreground coals were some of the areas for which I had no good reference material, but I think they ended up looking great. The wrought iron grate was painted last (it is in the extreme foreground, and is mostly black…it is usually a good idea to paint the darkest colors toward the end if you are working wet on wet, as I was.) After everything was basically in place, I went back with the darkest darks and added the deepest shadows to the bricks, the coals, the log, etc. I also brightened as much of the highlights as I could, with the paint still wet. After the rest of the painting is finished, or if I have some time while waiting for elements of the chair or figure to dry, I will do some minor touchups to the flames and the bricks (both the ones inside the firebox and the ones just around the outside) but they will be subtle enough that they most likely will not show up in a digital image.
The chair is next……
June 26th, 2004 at 1:30 pm
Bryan,
Just curious. In examining the image that you posted, I’ve found that the fire-log you painted almost seems superimposed on the “fire” itself (i.e. there doesn’t seem to be any interaction or connection between the two). Are you going to “char” the fire-log in any way, or show the fire more actively eating/burning through it? I might be completely wrong on this, but I’d like to hear what you have to say.
July 5th, 2004 at 10:30 am
Thanks for the question JG.
The scrap material used for the logs and the flame is actually a new generation gas fireplace which burns with a brighter, more natural flame. The logs are ceramic, and do not burn or char. I like the more modern take on the comfort of a fire in the house without the mess or the smoke, and the convenience. It still gives the same warm, directional light to the room and, I think, makes a little more sense in this setting.