A new oil painting begins

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 | Posted in: painting beautiful places

In 2008 we spent almost 2 months traveling down the Pacific Coast Highway and visited the village of Los Olivos, California.  We also took time to explore some of the  surrounding countryside and included is a photo I took of a beautiful scene found late in the afternoon on a clear, sunlit day. I was especially taken with the long shadows that fell down the hillside and this became the inspiration for my painting . It was beautiful to be able to stand there looking down on the splendid scene that was to become the painting I shall call “Long Shadows at Los Olivos.”

I loosely sketched the composition on an 18×24 tones canvas and laid in values and shadows with thinned Burnt Umber. More warmth was added with additional layers of yellow and orange where needed to depict the sunlight. These warm colors will shine through subsequent layers of paint and help describe the feeling of that special day. A soft cloth dipped in mineral spirits was used to wipe back to the light canvas to further assign sun struck areas. Thin color is worked over the entire painting not staying in any one place for too long. I don’t allow myself to think about or add any detail yet. This step is always saved until last after all large areas have been massed in and warm and cool color placed.

I continue blocking in color in an effort to cover all the canvas keeping in mind value and color relationships. The yellow under painting looks too bright now but  will sparkle through to add warmth and color harmony through out the painting. Tomorrow I’ll  continue to refine the painting by adjusting values and temperatures relationships and begin working on detail. Please check tomorrow’s blog to see the completed painting.