Welcome to the factory floor. These are the paintings I am working on. The Cool Art Show went well. Next stop is the Gainesville Downtown Show in November. Like usual I'm slow starting up again. There are boards to prepare and compositions to be worked out before I can start painting. The paintings this time are a comparison between working in straight oil paint and under-painting in egg tempera paint. Preparing boards to be painted with egg tempera is more complicated than with oils. Egg tempera requires a traditional hide glue gesso and you have to make it. Everything is slower in egg tempera, but for detail there is no better paint.
3 Sisters....18" x 24", Canvas on board
The painting of 3 Sisters springs is a commission piece. I normally don't take commission work, but this was different in that it was located here in Crystal River and it wasn't a bad place to spend time with a camera. I ended up taking over 800 photos of the springs before I felt I had a clear vision as to what I wanted to do and had everything I would need when I sat down to start the painting. It took awhile. Lucky for me the person who commissioned the painting is a patient man.
What you see here is the egg tempera under-painting. I've haven't used an egg tempera under-painting as part of my oil painting for almost a year. I've decided to start it again with some smaller pieces and hopefully can get this one into the rotation. The big issue with this painting has been the placement of the manatee and how prominent to make them. If I were to begin glazing with oil paint at this point and paint the manatee in oil paint I would have the option of wiping off the paint if I didn't like it. In tempera I will be more committed.
Petty Creek.... 18" x 32", Canvas on board
The location for this painting is a creek that runs between Mason Creek and the Homosassa River. The original idea for the painting was for a high horizon composition with a sky and its reflection in the water that would dramatically define the space. I got it started and then came up with this idea instead. I slapped it in a frame for the Cool Art Show and had the chance to live with it over the weekend and watch people's reactions to it. I have a clearer idea of what I need to do to finish it. Oil paint on canvas is a very free and easy way to work. If you don't like something paint it out. I can be more aggressive with the paint something I would like bring to my working with egg tempera paint.
Weeki Wachee.... 32" x 24", Canvas on board
I started this painting shortly after the Raymond James Show. I wanted to follow up the work I've been doing on canvas, in oils, on a textured surface. It is going to another winter Florida scene. Winter Mist was the first I did this year. It was 9"x14" and on board. It came out pretty well so I tried the idea again with Morning Mist at 12"x18" again on board. I decided to try the idea again and really scale it up. It may hold together at this size it may not. Some pieces work better small.
This is at a good point in the painting to take it off the stretcher and glue it to a board. A solid surface is always better for a painting over the long haul; it doesn't flex as much and stress the paint. It is hard to keep the board flat, however, when applying multiple coats of gesso to prepare it for a painting. Gluing a painting on canvas that has first been stretched and gessoed, to a board seems to eliminate the warping problem.
Cockroach Bay.... 9" x 14", on board
This will be another small painting of spoonbills. The location again is Cockroach Bay. This one, however has started with an egg tempera underpainting.
Crystal River.... 12" x 18", on board
This is a follow up to the previous painting on an oil ground. I've tried to be more aggressive with this one. The first step when working with paint is covering the white ground. Oil paint does this very well. I did not, however, plan to block in my color this way. What can I say, one thing led to another. Originally I had planned to do a tonal under-painting in oil paint and then glaze the color in layers. I'll have to save idea for another painting. I have a painting of the Weeki Wachee River in mind.
Crystal River.... 12" x 18", on board
This painting is from the same area of Crystal River as the previous painting. This one, however, has been started as an egg tempera under-painting. The "Cover the white" blocking in part of the painting is not something egg tempera does very well. I have to get a few layers of paint built up before I feel I'm in control. At this point in the painting little else matters other than establishing the composition.
8/11/2010
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