"Above Big Sur" 

A step by step from study to studio painting

 

Step 3

I decided to give you a wider view of what I'm working

on.  In this step, about 3/4 of the way through,  I have started

to add more paint and slowly build up areas working all

over the canvas.  Working this way for me breaths life into

the whole, all at once,  not a section at time which tends to

make a painting look stiff as if you were copying directly 

from a photo.  Of course,  areas in the distance don't need 

that much detail compared to the middle ground and fore-

ground areas.  Color and value aren't much of a concern 

since I established that during my block in,  but minor 

adjustments are made during this step.  Also,  edges at 

this step are well thought out keeping most of my crisp 

edges in the foreground.

 

Hint:  I do not soften any distant edges,  they are 

left alone since painted rather loosley early on 

in my block in.

"Above Big Sur" 

A step by step from study to studio painting

 

Step 2

 

In this step you can see the canvas has been completely 

covered with paint,  approximately one hour into painting.

It is only at this point, when I can see everything as a 

whole, that I can start to compare and adjust all 

my values and color to my liking.  You can see I've

kept all my shapes strong and haven't done too much 

detail work yet.  It is very important  not to lose 

yourself in detail,  remember what you are trying to 

convey and put down only the necessary brush marks.

 

"Above Big Sur" 

A step by step from study to studio painting

 Step 1

The first step is the block in with transparent washes 

of similar colors to the finished painting,  keeping in

mind the values that must be established.  The white 

of the linen will serve as my lightest value and the 

darkest value will be the forground bush on the left.

Hint: completely covering the canvas with paint 

during this stage will give you a better chance

 at nailing down your value.

Happy New Year everyone!  It's been a bit 

since my last post.  The holidays were busy 

and I was wrapping up last minute sales,  no

pun intended!  

I plan on posting demos soon,  but the 

weather was a bit tough,  lots of wet rainy

days and very cold.  It's now starting to 

warm up and hopefully in a week or so I 

have the first step by step demo posted.

Also,  If any of you are on Facebook and

would like to see more work go ahead 

and send me a friend request.  It's a great 

way to see what many artists are doing 

these days.