I am pleased to announce that my painting was selected for the Second Place Award at the Sixth Annual Federation of Canadian Artists - Thompson Nicola Shuswap Chapter - Open Art Show.

The show opened at the Old Courthouse Centre for the Arts in Kamloops on Friday, April 19th and runs until April 28th, 2013.

My thanks to the Executive of the TNSC for running such a great show!

Further to yesterday's post.  Here is the progression to the finished painting:

The next day, when I looked at the painting, I decided to lighten the sky and the water.  The bush that made a vague appearance in Stage 2 and 3 was eliminated.  I started to suggest logs and stuff under the tree and continued to scumble paint on the sand in the foreground.

Now things are starting to come together.  I redefined some branches that got lost under foliage and used some more negative painting to bring the background mountains and the water through the trees. I am starting to think the very light water next to the tree is too light.

This is the final painting.  I adjusted values here and there and painted enough twigs etc. on the beach to make it read as sand. Now it is just up to my husband to give it a name!

I hope you enjoyed sharing in the progress of this painting! Feel free to leave comments and questions.

Thank you to those who made it out to Opus in Kelowna on April 12, 2013 to see my presentation, the Power of the Underpainting. Here is the progression of the acrylic painting that I started during that demo. As promised, I will be posting photos of the painting as it develops.

When I got home I was quite pleased with the underpainting.  I really liked the warm tones in the upper middle of the tree.  I wanted to carry that colour elsewhere in the painting.  I also felt that the dark area under the tree needed to come down further into the foreground to anchor all that bright foliage.

I developed the foliage further, both with the warm colour, very cool (bluish) greens that I brushed on transparently and some brighter yellow greens.  I added lots more tree structure (trunks and branches) varying the value from darker at the base of the tree to lighter and warmer towards the ends of the branches. 

I added the light in the sky and reflected it in the water.  I used negative painting to develop the sky further, working around the branches and foliage.  I also developed the foliage further using both bright and neutral colours.

I step back at this point and check values.  There is a light spot in the water that has to go.  I develop the reflection of the branches in the water with a variety of blues from blue green to blue violet.  Every time I get a chance, I scumble a bit more paint into the sand in the foreground.  It is an easy way to build up the texture of the sand.  At the end, a few brush strokes will pull that area together.

I take the time at this point (and use up paint on my palette) to paint the edges of the canvas.  As I mentioned in the demonstration, I don’t frame my work.  Continuing the image around the edges gives the painting a 3D look that many people like. Usually I do that as I am applying the underpainting and then I refine the edges towards the end of the painting.


Check back soon for the completion of this painting.