Santa Cruz Calle

Acrylic on Cardstock

Been mysteriously waylaid, and forgot to post this other street scene from Stan Cruz in the Canary Islands. Bit of traveling on tap, so no posting for a bit, but plenty of inspiration when I get back.

Santa Cruz Tower

Acrylic on Cardstock - 4 x 6 inches

From another location I picked as a possible place to paint using Google Maps. What actually appealed to me about the screen rendering was the extreme forced perspective, so I thought I'd go with that. This is a 15 minute timed piece, made a little easier because I already had the palette laid out from doing the big one of Calle Sacramento.

Calle Sacramento

Acrylic on Canvas Paper - 11 x 8.5 inches

I've been following an interesting group and decided to participate this month. The Virtual Paintout website supplies a different location, via Google Maps co-ordinates, as the setting for a group outing. This month the spot is the Canary Islands.

Actually my only real gripes with this, is that Google Maps behaves badly, especially in terms of retracing one's steps, and there's too much to see. I think I spent more time wandering around than I did painting (though, in truth, this often happens when I go outside too).

I found a few spots and took screenshots. The scenes one sees in Google are often very distorted, with an oddly exaggerated perspective, and they often have missing pieces.

As with the old Different Strokes site, any physical media is acceptable and any level of experience, so there's quite an array of artwork and locations at the Virtual Paintout site already, and it's only the middle of the month.

Sonja

Acrylic on Canvas Paper

I was mailing out a collage postcard I'd made for the Art League Now! Post Card Arts Gang, when I thought it might make an interesting subject to paint.

Since it was mostly black and white, I thought I'd try a very limited palette and try to keep it spooky and dramatic.

Davenport III

It seems to have become a lot darker, but that's party due to the fact that I photographed it more accurately this time. And that I did darken things up a bit too.

The rocks are now taking on a more dimensional look, and the blues don't jump to the front as much. I think that little tree has to go, or be moved somewhere. The distant hills just aren't doing it for me. I can't decide what color or value they really are or should be. In the photo:

1. They're green, because they're covered with rich spring vegetation.

2. But they're less saturated, because they're far away.

3. Which means they reflect more blue light due to the distance

4. Though they are reflecting the warm light of the sun as well

5. And they have reds, purples and browns of the rocks, soil and dead vegetation.

6. But they should have less detail and be simplified to not draw attention away from the focal point, which is...

So, if I had to pick one color to make those hills... I just haven't found it yet.

Davenport II

Finally, I got to block in the major color shapes and even got to start refining and adding in secondary colors. And now I'm stuck.
It looks so flat and unexciting. The colors and details and sharpness in the far hills needs fixing, and sharp, big brush-strokes in the foreground need to be addressed. I also need to round out some of the rock formations in the middle ground, giving them some warm and cool sides. I'm just not sure where to begin the next steps.
I'm hitting the Kevin McPhearson books tonight to see if I can remember what I've forgotten.
Any clues, greatly appreciated at this point.

Davenport

Acrylic on Canvas Panel - 14 x 18 Ω
Took some good pictures on my last road trip, so I thought I'd try painting some of 'em. Trying to work bigger now. These are so easy for me on little postcards, but seeming impossible on larger panels. So I must push on.
I got interrupted after doing the initial sketch and blocking in of dark shapes. I did manage to get the sky started and take a photo. Tomorrow I'll get the basic color shapes in and then start refining them. And big brushes only!

Chyna IV

I didn't think there was enough contrast between the hills and her hair, which really should be the brightest, glowingest shiny part of the painting, so I added more blue to the hill colors, and darkened them a bit more. Ditto for the close face of the wall. I continued to round out the shapes of the arm, shoulder, legs and body. I added more detail to the shirt, and then suddenly felt like I had to try the stripes in the top. I would normally only hint at them or leave that kind of detail out altogether, but I thought it might help define the contours of the torso.

I think I'm essentially done here. If I were to do more, I'd probably lighten the sky and the water a bit more, but that's about it.

I think it looks a little darker here than in real life due to sloppy photography management. I really need to get a system and stick to it.

Chyna III

I've toned down the intensity of color and detail in the distant hills and brightened the water to reflect the tones in the sky. Then I refined the shapes in the dress and hair and skin to try and round them out. I think it's going in the right direction, but still afraid I'm getting too fussy. Maybe just an hour or so more and I'm gonna call this one.

Chyna II

Getting back to the project at hand...

Here I've blocked in the bigger color shapes to map things out and compare values. It's about as sophisticated as my finished painting from two years ago. I think the colors are a little more accurate than before, but I'm still trying to work out the focus and how to get that background to quiet down. I'll see what I can work out tonight.