Sky Scapes and Light Houses

I have been working on painting various sky scapes and lighthouses.

5x7 "Light Dusk"

Sky Scapes and Light Houses Continued

5x7 "Light Willow

5x7 "Light Moon"

5x7 "Light Rocks"

After painting these four sky scapes and light houses I discovered I was ready to go back to a large canvas. I had thought the detailing would be easier since it was smaller in scale but actually it was much more difficult than I had expected. Although, it was another great learning experiance! On to my next project...

Finished Painting Of "Passage Into Palisade"



"Passage Into Palisade"
Completed Painting
18x24
Acrylic

A couple years ago my family and I went to explore the beautiful Mississippi Palisade Park. I had taken several pictures while there of my family and some landscape photos. But this particular picture of my daughter using her cell phone to snap a quick picture was interesting to me. At the time, my daughter did not want her photo taken but I did anyway...one of her back! Once home and downloaded to my computer I thought the picture on the back of her t-shirt was just as interesting as the background of the surrounding park. It inspired me to want to paint a picture within a picture.

Enhancing Folds And Lettering

Enhancing folds and lettering

At this stage, I wanted to give more depth to the t-shirt. First, I enhanced the folds by using a lighter shade of blue gray for the darkest part of the folds. Then I mixed various shades of white mixed with gray for the lightest part of the folds. Once the folds were complete I focused on the lettering. I mixed a combination of orange, burnt umber, Payne's gray, and white until I was satisfied with the end result. When mixing the paint for the folds and lettering I watered down the acyclic paint until the consistency was similar to watercolor. I applied several thin applications until the lettering began to take shape and color was where I wanted it to be.

Flat To Flare



Continue adding more layers

When working with an image that is flat and boring it is time to create more flare. Creating shadows and folds can bring life to a flat subject. I continued adding more layers to hair and t-shirt to give more depth and dimension.


Adding darker values to the background



Continue adding darker layers

As I continued adding darker values I noticed my painting was not looking like I wanted. The more color I used in the background for the distant trees became to close and crisp. So I decided to do a wash of white mixed with water and painted over the background. At first, I was not sure this would work but after the painting dried it appeared further away and that is what I wanted. However, it was not exactly what I wanted, so I continued experimenting with different colored washes until I found one that worked. However, I believe it was culmination of colors that made the end result.

Add Dark Values To Create Depth



Add dark value of color to enhance depth

I continued adding thin dark paint to the lower part of the painting. I also created notches and grain in the wood railing giving it a more realistic look.