I normally work from plein air sketches or my imagination, but the scene I photographed in Costa Rica was just too beautiful to pass up. I changed the foreground to make it more interesting and to introduce lines to direct viewers' attention around the composition, and I got rid of the overhanging branches since they suggested something beyond the canvas that wasn't resolved. While painting, I spent quite a bit of time trying to add variety to the otherwise monochromatic palette of greens, mixing various combinations of warm (ultramarine blue + cadmium yellow) and cool greens (Winsor blue + cadmium lemon); and I glazed mixtures of Galkyd medium and transparent colors (transparent red oxide, Indian yellow, Winsor blue). Now I'll spray it with retouch varnish to unify the surface with a gloss.
The painting is 18" x 24", oil on canvas. I'm going to put it on a shelf in my office so I can imagine being back in the tropical environment when I'm stuck in cold, wet, chaotic New York City.
Very beautiful Steve! By making the waterfall larger it is as if we have moved further down the hill...wouldn't that be a place to have a small house with a veranda to sit each morning and have some coffee and just absorb it!!! Very nice!
ReplyDelete" It look like the dinosaur times" from my 8 yr old gal.You've captured the atmosphere of a tropical forest Steve:)
ReplyDeleteI think this is my favorite thing about being an artist. I take lots of photgraphs to use as subject matter.
ReplyDeleteFor me changing the composition, subtracting, adding, or improving is what makes the painting a work of art.
I enjoy the mood and the colors of the two paintings.