My process of creating a landscape painting
Imagine taking a walk in the wooded hills in Northern Michigan, or the high desert gorges in New Mexico, or even among the concrete and glass mountains of Chicago. You round a corner, or crest a hill, and you gasp at the view before you. What do you do? You pause, and take in the scene. You snap a picture. You inhale the view and exhale some stress.
And, if you’re like me, you create a painting!
“How long did it take?” “How do you get your inspiration?” Where is this?” “Is this a real place?”
People ask me questions like this quite often about my landscape paintings.These are great questions! These folks are truly interested in the work, and in many cases, about the process. People want to know what it takes to get my art from my busy brain to the finished painting on display before them.
There is a lot that goes into a single painting, often before the brushwork and color mixing even starts.
My landscape paintings usually start with movement, and getting outside. That movement could be a walk, a ride in the car, or sometimes even an airplane ride. Wherever I go, I’m always looking around.
If something catches my eye, I take a picture. I take tons of pictures. This part is so much easier than it used to be! With such a nice camera on my cell phone, I can take as many pictures as I want, and see them immediately. If I don’t like the photo, I delete it.
I also observe, and take mental notes, My photos are for reference only; they serve to jog my memory. Nothing beats observation, memory, and creative imagination. Often, when I look at a scene, I imagine what brush I’d use, and what colors I would mix. I guess in my head, I’m always painting.
I thought it would be fun to follow my process on a single painting.
The painting is called “Faltering Giant” This is a scene from the coast near Lake Superior. There is a sandy path called the Songbird Trail that winds along a creek, through tall red pines, to Lake Superior and back. The trees reach to the sky like columns from some ancient temple. They flank the trail like giants, quietly watching as they have for decades.
This scene caught my eye as a nearly fallen pine made a diagonal line, interrupting the vertical stripes made by the surrounding trees.
I took a photo, made some metal notes, and finished the walk.
Back to the art studio
Sometimes a scene is in my heart and mind, constantly nagging me to put it on canvas. It occupies my thoughts. I’m obsessed with it. I plan my color scheme,and I already know what brushes I’ll use. These are the easy ones to create. These paintings flow from the tubes and onto the canvas with little effort.
Other times, I’ll want and need to paint, but I won’t have a particular scene in mind. I’ll go through my pictures, trying to decide which to do next. I don’t have a shortage of material! The hardest part is not finding something to paint, but deciding which of my snapshots to paint next.
This scene was the former; it kept popping into my mind. I couldn’t wait to start on it.
I thought this should be a larger piece, regal and grand, like the tall red pines are in real life. So I chose an 18×24 inch canvas, which is bigger than what I usually paint on.
Let the Painting Begin!
I started out by toning the canvas.
Some artists tone their canvases with thinned paint before they start the creative part of the piece. Lately, artists are starting to understand the dangers of long term exposure to paint thinners, and they will scrub in the tone with a stiff brush. Others chose to do this step in acrylics.
Some neutralize the white canvas with a gray wash or scrub. Others “warm up” the canvas with an umber wash. I’ve seen some artists tone the canvas with red, allowing some of these bits of warm and bright show through the final piece.
I generally choose to tone my canvas with masses of color that more or less match the hues of the final painting. This provides a good color foundation and compositional framework as I develop the scene.
My next step is to start adding the darks.
At this point, I start working in some darks. I sketch in some major elements and define shapes. This further strengthens the composition.
I usually mix up a real dark purple, or a dark green. I rarely use black out of the tube, though lately I’ve started experimenting with ivory black on some paintings.
The choice of dark color depends on how I think the final painting should look. Sometimes, the dark will vary from one area of the same piece to another.
A Dance of Light and Shadow
From here on out, the painting will be a push-pull dance between lights and darks, with each layer offsetting and enhancing the one before.
So at this point, I start bringing out some light. Using my photo reference, memory, and imagination, I decide where the sunlight may be touching, and where it isn’t.
Then I follow with more darks as needed, then more lights, on and on until the scene feels right.
This painting could be done now. The scene is well laid out, the tone is set, the compositional framework is built and finished.
Details Define
The finishing touches are important to me. The details define the scene. This is what makes me feel like I’m there again. I render the bark on the trees, add in some thin branches and twigs, and illuminate the whole thing with some final highlights.
When the painting says what I want it to say, I stop and sign my name.
For me, there’s more to this than a straightforward work of art. I see a mighty being that has faltered, almost fallen. Yet it’s being held up by the giants around him.
Hence the title “Faltered Giants”
This means a lot to me. People falter, and sometimes it’s up to the rest of us in society to help keep someone from falling. Sometimes, we need to prop each other up.
This painting is available at Wintergreen Hill Gallery, 810 North Third Street, Marquette, Michigan.
Call 906-273-1374
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