P A I N T I N G P R O C E S S
I thought I would share the process of creating a 48x36" coastal scene, which is the first painting in my Eternity series. So why Eternity? Why these scenes? I am drawn to painting these scenes because they reflect something deeper—something beyond the physical world, even though it's something we see in our physical world. There is a profound stillness in these vast, open places, a feeling of endless possibility and quiet reflection. The interplay of sky, sea, and light reminds me of the eternal nature of time, space, and existence itself. In painting these, I seek to capture not just a landscape or ocean or sky, but a moment of connection with something greater than ourselves—a place where the soul can breathe.
ETERNAL PROMISE, 48"x36" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
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My paintings begin with a gesso mix of 75 % white gesso and 25% water. This helps me get some wetness on the canvas, so when I add the base color for the background, the paint will move easier. I coat the entire canvas with the gesso and then add the base colors right in with the wet gesso and blend with a big brush for the sky. For the foreground, I map out where the water will be and where the sand will come in with the same mixture of gesso and paint and a little color to represent the areas. I don't always put in a foreground base right away, sometimes I paint the sky entirely before placing anything in the foreground and I allow the sky to dictate the lower portion.
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I begin to add some clouds into the sky area, once again, using a lot of my white gesso mix and then a little color to start bringing in the darks for some contrast. This stage took quite a long time on this painting due to the amount of clouds I included. I use long handled filbert brushes for the clouds, and work them in relatively quickly. I also began to work in an indication of where the sun rays would come down, as I feel they are an integral part to the painting and I wanted to keep my focus on them throughout.
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Here I've added more darks in the sky, and a little touch of dark to the water below. I hadn't truly worked out my colors for the foreground yet, so I haven't done very much on it up to this point. Most of my time was spent on the sky to get the layout of the clouds right and establish the lights and darks.
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Here I decided to work more on the water and sand. I know at this point it looks like a 2 year old did it, but keep in mind, this is the first of many layers and tweaks. Paintings look so ugly in the beginning, I don't even know why I show these photos. I guess my hope is someone might find the process interesting. And I kind of like to take the photos and look at them later, away from the painting, as it shows me my mistakes. I was exhausted from the sky earlier today -- the filbert I was using was a very large one and working with that big heavy brush wore me out, so I decided to work on the foreground and get some base layout/color in there.
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This is my palette up to this point and these paints are starting to stiffen up. Acrylic dries very fast, even though I do spritz them with a little water as I go along. I have tried the slow dry mediums but then it seems to take too long to dry for me, so I just prefer water. I will probably have to refresh this palette tomorrow. Even though I keep it in the a closed palette box overnight, the paints just get to where they don't want to move enough for me, so refreshing is needed.
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I worked more on the foreground to develop the water and sand and work out my colors. Then I went back up to the sky, adding more shaping of the clouds and bringing in a little color up there.
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This is a close up of the sun rays I've been hanging on tight to in this whole painting.
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Finally, it's time to bring lots of color into the clouds. It looks very choppy at this point, and the color may appear a bit strong, but it will get toned down more as I go. There are many, many layers in my skies!
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I've added even more color into the clouds and brightened the blue up in the sky a bit. I strengthened my sun rays more, added more color and some highlights into the water, too.
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I worked on the middle of the sky, where the light is the brightest, and working on blending, blending, blending. Most of my layers and blending are applied using a dry brush/scumbling technique, and if I need to move the paint more, I use a separate damp brush to do so. Even though I don't wash brushes between colors {at least until they get muddy}, I often have 3-4 brushes in my hands while working on the sky. All filberts, but different sizes for different areas, and a clean damp brush for blending and "swooshing" the paint where I want it to go.
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Here I left the sky alone for a while, and instead worked on the water and the sand. I was still having trouble working out my colors for the water -- you may notice some color variations there between some of the blues and greens, but that was worked out with more blending light layers on top of dry layers, to make a more gradual transition to the little pool of water in the sandy area. I was getting close to being done, and this is the stage I examine it closely for what I want to fix and change tomorrow.
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I fixed a few things with some of the clouds, extended more sun rays toward the highlight on the water, added waves, trying to keep the light waves light and the shadowed area ones darker so they would make sense. I fixed an area of sand I didn't care for by the pool of water and I ended up bringing the water right on over onto the sand, which suits me much better. And I added some "froth" in the waves right as they hit the edge of the sand. Then I walked away from it for an hour and came back with fresh eyes, finally deciding I was done.
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ETERNAL PROMISE
After finishing a painting, I clean up the sides where I may have gotten paint on the gallery wrapped edge -- I simply bring them back to white for a nice clean look. I then name the painting, and sign it, and after waiting another day for everything to be completely dry, I wire the painting on the back for hanging. I photograph the painting on the first day for prints, however, so that task was done today. The painting is now uploaded and prints in various sizes are available. The above photo is just an example of what the painting may look like hanging on a wall. The original will be available here locally or from me directly.
Thank you for stopping by, I hope you've found my painting process interesting and informative!