Because I wanted the lighting for this painting to be quite dramatic, I decided to use a technique I haven’t used in years…an under-painting. An under-painting is basically a monochromatic painting of the entire composition that goes underneath the full-colored layers of paint that make up the final image. Why go to all the work? The under-painting allows me to lay out all of the values for the painting ahead of time, and much as the careful drawing saves me time later by solving all of the shape, proportion, perspective and line problems, it saves me time by solving all of the lighting problems. Between the drawing and the under-painting, all that I really have to worry about as I paint the over-painting is the color.

In order to keep things archival, an under-painting has to follow the rich over lean rule. In general, no layer of paint should have a higher oil content than the one that goes on top of it. This helps prevent cracking of the top layers of paint. For the same reason, it is also a good idea to try and use quick-drying pigments that are flexible when dry in lower layers of paint. Keeping these two things in mind, I used Burnt Umber, Raw umber and a little Ivory Black, all thinned with turpentine as opposed to linseed oil. Because the canvas was already tinted slightly, and because the pigment mix I used was not quite as dark as pure black, I also left myself a little room to tweak the shadows and really pop a few highlighted areas.

As you can see, the under-painting is a fairly complete image. I can tell exactly what’s going on, and already have a feel for how the light is going to work. I actually really like the effect too…it has a lovely antique sort of feel to it.

Step 1: Preparation

Welcome back to The Artist’s Studio! I have recently completed what I can honestly say is one of my personal favorite paintings, ‘Navigator’. It’s development represents what, to me, is an almost ideal progression for an artist working in my style, and as such, I thought it would be an interesting piece to walk through from conception to completion. It may sound strange, although it has happened to me several times, but the idea for this painting actually occurred to me while shooting scrap for another painting. The details of the other composition are best left for later (particularly if they do eventually become a painting of their own), but the essential details are as follows.

I had assembled various props for a photo-shoot with my daughter as the model. My daughter, at the time, was just under three years old…a particularly difficult age to work with in general, as any parent will verify, but specifically so as far as modeling for paintings is concerned. I have found that it is often useful to have a ‘Model Wrangler’ on hand for such endeavors….meaning, a person who is not me, who the model can interact with, and who can take cues from me as to how to influence the mood and actions of the model. In this case, the “Model Wrangler’ was my son, seven years old, and a favorite person of my daughter. I will skip over the mundane and numerous detail of the progression of events. In summary, at one point my son was demonstrating a pose that might look like fun for my daughter to take, just so…in front of the window. The props were different, but the pose and the lighting suddenly suggested to me a vague idea I had kept on the back burner for some years: a young boy aspiring to travel the stars. Anyone familiar with my work should know I am an admitted space nut, and an eternal optimist. The two characteristics are bound to lead to composition like this one. Anyway, I immediately let my daughter have a break, rummaged through the house for appropriate props, and shot a dozen or so photos of my son. This charcoal sketch was the first actual composition to result:

I loved the idea, but wasn’t really sold on the actual composition…at least not from a visual standpoint. I had almost resolved to re-shoot the scrap (artist jargon for photographic reference material), when I realized that cropping the scene into a square solved almost every compositional problem. Golden-mean ratios popped up everywhere, diagonals throughout the composition all seemed to line up, and I got a really nice division between lights and darks that appealed to me. Using one photograph as the basis for the pose, and multiple others as details for hands, globe, and star-scape etc., I came up with the following to-scale drawing:

One of my favorite canvas sizes is 18 inches by 30 inches. It makes for a nice, midrange painting with good aspect ratios in both landscape and portrait configurations…and I had several blank canvasses of that size on hand. But this time, I needed a square. It just so happened that I had four stretcher bars hanging around in the studio which had been intended for canvasses that I never ended up stretching. There had, historically, been eight…four of them provided the bones for ‘Study for the Triumph of Icarus’ in 2009…my most recent square composition. I found a scrap of linen, stretched and primed a 20×20 surface, and using an oil transfer technique I moved my scale drawing from paper to the new canvas:

But I’m always more interested in giving my figures some sort of context….
As I mentioned earlier, this piece was painted under a pretty tight deadline, so I kept the background simple. Clouds, sky and concrete are all things I like to paint, and can paint quickly. And it’s no secret that I like the contrast between the architectural and the organic. So, this young woman is suddenly sitting on a concrete wall in the clouds. But, she is obviously looking at something…. At times it is fun to leave the object of a figure’s attention up to the viewer’s imagination, but in this case, the overall composition also needed a smaller shape to balance the figure, and a bit of color. The butterfly provided both, as well as giving me a chance to break out the serious cadmium reds and oranges, and extending the juxtaposition of organic beauty and structure against the geometric, man made architecture. It also gave the painting a title with a subtle double meaning.

And there you have it! A simple figure painting, with a simple theme…but one that, I think, turned out beautifully.

As always, I really look forward to any questions and/or comments, either on this piece in particular or on more general art related topics.
Thanks for reading!

A final pass was made over the entire outfit to level out the colors, refine details and punch up the deep shadows and highlights.

Incidentally, you may have noticed that I also painted the gold, braided bracelets somewhere in there. Metallic and glass objects are always fun to work on, largely because the lighting and coloration is usually a surprise. They provide an excellent opportunity to practice observation and color matching skills.

And here is the painting once all of the skin has been painted. I have found that it really help to work on one particular element of a painting all at once…flesh, fabric, whatever. Once I’m in the groove with a particular technique, I can move a lot faster and, I think, do a better job.

Now I’m ready to start painting drapery. The hair I will save for later, since it overlaps the blouse in such a complicated way.

As always, I started off with a detailed drawing of the figure. I’m working from several different photographs taken with slightly different exposures and from slightly different angles to give myself as much information to work from as possible in the absence of a live model. The drawing is done to scale, though slightly smaller than the final painting. Once it was finished, I had it blown up to full size, and then transferred it to the 24X24 inch canvas using an oil transfer. If you’re curious about the oil transfer process, please write in to the Artist’s Studio and I will be happy to elaborate in as much detail as you can handle!

When painting figures, I like to start with the face. It’s a complex feature which usually contains just about every variation of skin tones that will be present in the painting…and it sets the tone for the rest of the piece. It also allows me to connect a little better with the figure as opposed to painting a headless body first. The technique I’m using here involves painting each separate form on the face in one pass, applying as close to the final local color as possible as I move across each curved surface. It involves vary little blending on the canvas, although I do have to go back into an area occasionally to bring up a highlight or adjust the chroma (intensity) of the colors. (Again, I’d be happy to elaborate on this technique, it’s pros and cons etc. if anyone is interested.) Obviously, this technique requires an accurate drawing, and makes large changes far more difficult to make on the fly…but it does have its many advantages. One such advantage is that I can start and stop work if I need to. For example, this is where I had to leave the face after the first full day of work:

Here is the finished face. As you can see, I was able to pick up where I left off without any visible seam between the different days work, even though the paint from the first session was completely dry before I started the second.

I would love for this to be more of a two way discussion than just my running commentary. So if you do have questions or comments, even if you would like to remain anonymous, please write in. Let me know what you would like to hear more about.

The right arm provided a similar challenge. Only a small section of the hand is in the light, and the overall values had to stay between those of the red scarf and the white dress. I am particularly pleased with the way the interaction between the right hand and thigh and the drapery lends some real solidity to the form.

I wanted to do something completely different with the background for this painting. As I mentioned at the beginning of this studio installment, I didn’t have anything in particular in mind for this composition. But as the figure began to take shape, the lighting increasingly suggested a nighttime scene. The week before I finished the figure, Sara and I visited a local gallery that has a lovely Koi pond in its courtyard. Sara suggested something like that would make a nice background for the painting. I decided to combine the two. The first step was to give the figure something to stand on. I was planning on putting lily pads in the pond, and I always love a bit of concrete in a painting, so again…I decided to combine the two ideas and paint a sort of concrete lily pad. Since I had no reference material for anything in the background other than a few photos of lily pads I found online, the concrete pad took a little fussing with before I was happy with it.

Next I decided to carefully block in some general colors for the sky, the silhouetted trees and the water. I also added a couple of skyscrapers off in the distance. I’ve had several people comment that the buildings seem out of place in this composition, but I disagree. I like the combination of the manmade architecture of the buildings and the concrete pad, and the natural elements of the pond and trees. Incidentally, this photo is a terrible representation of the color balance in the painting. The high contrast and the varying states of dryness and glossiness of the paint really gave my camera a hard time.

After the blocked in colors had dried a little, I went back and added some subtle detail to the water, a huge number of stars, and lights in the buildings. I painted the lily pads and then blocked in the silhouettes of the plants in the foreground. Again, this was all being done with really no reference material at all, so I spent a lot of time tweaking shapes and colors until things started to look right.

Once again, I allowed the background to dry, then I went in and further refined the shapes of trees, lily pads and reflections in the water. I added a few highlights in a couple of areas and some detail to a few of the foreground grasses and flowers that seemed as though they might fall in the light. Finally, I added some firefly lights in the trees and bushes across the pond.

In reference to the main light illuminating the figure, the stars, the fireflies and the distant city lights, I decided to call the painting ‘Night Light’. This image is a professional scan made after the painting had been allowed to dry and given a coat of varnish.

By now I also have final images and titles for the other two paintings in the group.
‘Liberty’

And ‘The Poet’.

So there you have it: three, very different paintings from start to finish. I am really happy with the way each of them turned out, but I have to admit that even though it started out as more of an experiment than the other two, ‘Night Light’ ended up being my favorite. From the beginning, I really liked the pose and the lighting, and I think the nighttime scenery added a really wonderful mood as well as a lot of contrast and visual depth to the composition.

I started these three paintings having just moved into a new studio space in Salt Lake City, UT. However, since finishing work on ‘Night Light’ and writing this studio step, I have moved into yet another new space in Los Alamos, NM. Before leaving, however, I was able to get some incredible scrap for a few new paintings. So check back in a few weeks for a new installment of the Artist’s Studio. In the mean time, I welcome any comments or questions on these three pieces or on art in general.

Thanks for reading!

After the organic forms of the drapery and figure, the notebook was a relaxing change of pace. Strangely enough, another power outage in the studio caused the job to stretch over two days, but with little, if any consequence other than lost time. I was also able to finish a small section of the dress on the second day, while I had all the colors ready to go on my palette.
What turned out to be the biggest challenge of the painting by far was the hand holding the book. It could have just been an off day, but getting the transition between the light on the fingertips and the upper arm and the cast shadow from the book was a real trick.

The remaining section of the dress took another two days to complete. It’s not completely obvious in these images, but there are some subtle differences in the colors between areas of the fabric touching flesh and areas of the same value that just happen to be in cast shadow. Once I realized what was causing the differences, work sped up considerably, proving that analyzing and understanding what you are painting is just as important as being able to copy what you see in front of you. Just looking at the finished painting, one may never notice why, but the fabric will appear lighter and less opaque than if it were painted all in one string of colors.

I decided that painting the wall and especially the floor, with its subtle drop off in light and crazy shadow pattern, would be considerably easier if I did it before the stool was finished. Not only would I not have to be so careful about accidentally painting outside of the lines, but the changes in value of the wood wouldn’t interfere with my color decisions as I jumped between little areas. Again, there are two separate sets of color at work here: one in the areas receiving warmer light from the main light source and one for the cooler areas in the cast shadows. This is really common in cast shadow situations, and it is really amazing how much more convincing a shadow is when is isn’t simply painted in a darker value of the same hue as the surrounding areas of light.

And finally the figure has something to lean against. I think she looks far more comfortable.

Now for some real fun. I seem to love providing my figures with a vast backdrop of giant buildings and dramatic skies. It’s certainly a view I would love to have from my windows. This time I wanted to add the deep oranges and reds of a sunset to play off of the orange and red scarf, and to darken the color scheme to really allow the figure to stand out. Yes, this does most certainly imply that the main light source in the fore-ground is an artificial, indoor light. This is actually a good thing, since the drop off in the intensity of the light from where it is closest to the figure, near her face, to where it hits her legs and feet is far too drastic to be natural light. I drew off of photos of several large cities including New York, Chicago and Beijing for the coloring and lighting, and then had a lot of fun coming up with my own building designs. The resulting contrast between the figure and the background, especially the bright white of blank pages of the notebook waiting to be filled and the dark silhouettes of the skyscrapers really draws attention to the book…to the creating of something out of nothing through the careful choosing of just the right words.

I haven’t settled on a title for this painting just yet…and I need a little time to consider it. This is often a sticking point for me, but this one is particularly difficult. While the theme is very general and spans the breadth of human civilization and civilization, I want to avoid any specific entanglements with this decades political events. I am a philosophical painter, but not a political one. So I’m going to take my time, and get the title right. In the mean time, enjoy the final image:

I’ve also been making headway on the other two paintings. The Poet painting has benefitted from the completion of the pencil wielding hand, one knee and the bright orange and red accent draperies of it’s costume:

The ‘Gift ‘ painting also has a few updates, mostly in the arms-and-legs category. This photo does no justice to the work, which I am actually pretty proud of. The foot, which looks crazy in this photo, turned out great. The model, having stood/crouched in this position for some minutes, and the effects of blood flow being pushed back in the capillaries of the toes was fairly obvious, and fun to paint. The flesh tones look dark, but once the surrounding drapery is in place to give some context, and a better photo is taken, I think it will speak for itself.