A few weeks worth of paint and canvas

I was in the mood to paint something on the large size, perhaps one similar to the small scale study below. My original plan was to use (4) 62x48 panels finishing out at around 62x192...yep 16 feet! Sadly my study sold before I got a chance to act on it.

SMALL STUDY

 738 - private collection

Today a 62x48 panel seems rather small since I have a better studio set-up allowing me greater latitude. I still like my original concept, but not certain I'm up to 16 feet of glory at the moment...There is another possibility here, I do have a clean 66x60 canvas with a good frame available. I could design a painting consisting of  (3) 66x60 panels forming an almost seamless triptych with the middle one as an independent painting giving me a "bailout option"; also use of an existing inventory frame. Not particularly a bad idea since I did want a very large impact painting in the first place. Of course one of the real pluses of triptych is ease of handling and shipping. Could get my cake and eat it too! I was also thinking more of a landscape than a seascape. I could play more with atmosphere and fog which I'm into right now.

 SMALL WARM UP -  NO RELATION TO FINAL PAINTING

893 Spring Waters 24x24 oil on linen (3-5-14)

BACK AT GROUND ZERO with a plan & CONCEPT DRAWING

 (3) panels 66x60 or 66x180 (Scale 1/2" = 1'-0")

CENTER PANEL DETAIL

Center panel - 66x60

FINAL PAINTING

 894 Migration 66x60 oil on linen (3-23-14)

PROGRESS STAGES

DAY ONE

After studying my sepia wash (Sienna with Neo Megilp) I added a red line where I wanted a second group in the upper distance to start joining the main heard at the bottom

DETAIL

I like this better - it adds more opportunity and interest; distant horses making a sharp turn which emanate from around the distant trees from the next panel on the right.....not in my original drawing so a few quick marks will hold that thought.

 Big canvas so it has to be carefully staged for painting times.

SECOND DAY

 894-2a

894-2b

 894-2

A remarkably good painting day - never went into the sky after this session

THIRD DAY - RED LINE STAGE PLAN 1&2

 

Stage (1) left is where I'll start and only start stage (2) if  time and energy permit - as you can see I could easily break this up into (3) sessions

 894-3

Merging the left tree bank into my sky took most of the morning. I would need a complete afternoon to finish my first stage because it includes a small herd of distant ponies which could be time consuming......so I took advantage of a natural stopping point just at the top of the herd.

FOURTH DAY

894-4

At the end of the day my right trees are in place - not sure they are finished yet, but was tired of messing with them! I shifted my energy to the all important distant perspective line leading to my foreground ponies with so-so results.......I can already see more thought is needed.....bit of nighttime study.

FIFTH DAY - HORSES

894-5 Detail

I'm kinda feeling my way here - each horse takes some time, plus also trying to develop my marsh lands, where water will and won't be. Tricky, working in small space amongst the horses...not a lot of progress to show for a full days work. The distant perspective seems to work better, but no clear plan yet!

SIXTH DAY - MORE HORSES

 Red line plan - #1 & #2..again I really have (3) possible stopping points

 894-6

I had a full day and things worked out reasonably well, so I got (4.5) horses in place. The painted middle horse still needs more attention....no point fooling with it until all my players are in place.

DAY SEVEN - MORE HORSES

894-7

The (3) bottom left horses were time consuming - the white one is too harsh for my overall key. I'll deal with it at the end.

DAY EIGHT - TWO MORE HORSES

 894-8 Detail (lower section)

My white horse is in context with the rest - still too center stage......a bit of a battle between my bit player and my real star below

894-8 Detail - he'll get dressed up a bit more because he is my star

DAY NINE - BACK TO DISTANT HORSES

894-9 End of day

My attention was on my distant mid group of horses emerging from marsh waters - it was a very impromptu move on my part...hope I don't regret it later on.

 894-9 Detail - bit more detail on his markings

DAY TEN

894-10

I worked more on bringing my horses into harmony with each other, including darkening my white horse...feels right, my eye ends with my star, so I signed it! 

894-10 Detail

Bit more light on his cream markings and deeper blacks confirms my star is looking like a star, my star is not exactly stage center....perhaps one day he will be!

The finished painting ended up taking several weeks. It has open doors right and left, if the mood strikes, to continue on. I also didn't over exploit the ground fog either. I want that door to remain open as well. It's the possibilities left that will cause the next moves and more importantly if I do, my star is in the right place!


Later........