Memorial Day Weekend Painting Up Date

What I got done on Saturday May 26th

I have been working on the populating my painting with people. I've started working on the boat people. I've added some folks to the shore walk area. You can see my weird method of figuring out people.  If you enlarge the picture, the children at the shore line are just cut outs that are taped there while I decide if they belong in the picture or not. All the people started out that way, having come from people I found on the internet or in my own photo collection. I cut them out of their respective backgrounds and sized them appropriately to fit into mine. Not sure the little children are going to make it into the picture.

What I got done as of Monday May 28th

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday I decided to move the shore line on the right side and bring it out into the water where I had previously planned to put the boat. I moved the boat because in the right corner. I needed to create some room to add a little sidewalk cafe area.

Monday, I painted the cafe area with its bright umbrellas.  I have things that still need additional layers.

I did change some of the lighting on the sun to hopefully make the nose not look so long and I tried to bring in the left side of the nose just a bit. Pretty minor little changes.

I toned down the flowers on the bridge a bit. I guess there no flowers on any of the River Walk bridges. I think some one should get the garden club out there to take care of that problem right away. In the mean I could not remove them completely because the leaves and flowers were pretty textured and they would still show. So now its more like ivy or green moss.

I still have lots of little things to do all over the painting but pretty much the big stuff is done at this point. Lots of things need additional layers of paint. Some of the folks in the boat still need hair. The sky needs some other shades of blue. 

Guess thats about all for now.

An Interesting Door

 I found this interesting door earlier today while I was out on an errand. Its amazing the architectural elements that I am noticing because of this project.  I am noticing the trim, awnings, and doors that I would never have even noticed.
I find myself having to stop and take photos of the things I find while I'm out.
Well this door changed the direction of the second building. The green was not working so it became this tan building with balconies. I have tried to see if I could find places for some umbrellas and tables but I'm not finding a spot that seems right to me. So I am dropping that idea for the moment.
Well I just realized that progress reports are due for the boys - so I better get that done.

Painting A Real Building

I did not get as much as I had hoped to get done on this painting project on Saturday. My church had a big paint day to work on the exterior of our building. Between running to get turpentine and rags and helping cleaning up a paint mess. I got a little bit painted during the middle of the day. Later in the day I stopped to helped finish up by painting some real window wells and a door as volunteers started to drop off and the job was still a long way from finished. 

I painted in the windows on the red building and the awning on the green one. I think the angle is off still on the awning. Not sure I like the stripes it might need to be solid. I will play with it more off and on during the week. We are to the end of the school year and every thing gets extra busy before it settles down to the more relaxed pace of summer. 

If you would like to see more photos and my report on the church painting project please visit my other blog for my article called Sometimes Paint Happens http://devotionals-margot.blogspot.com/2012/05/sometimes-paint-happens.html

Lots of Progress

5/18/2011 Afternoon Painting Session

I got a lot done on this project today. The bridge, the water, the landscape under the bridge.
Then it looked like such a lovely place that it needed someone to be there enjoying it. So I added the couple on the bench. He's probably singing her that old Beatles tune, "Here come's the sun."

Couple on a bench

There is still a lot yet to do, like the sky will have more shades of blue. The tree still needs shadows and highlights. The green building will have a bright striped awning. Oh and the barge full of people still waits to be tackled. There are some minor fixes on the sun face. The windows on the buildings. I'd love to find a spot for a bistro table with two people playing chess. I can't decide if someone should be standing on the bridge. Still can't decide if I want to do the extruded paint on the sun rays.  I got a lot figured out on it today and I'm sure tomorrow I will answer some of the other questions.

Spent The Morning Happily Painting

The Entrance That I Have Used As My Model

 Yesterday on my way to work, after dropping the kids to school. I passed the old spagetti factory and noticed they had a wonderful doorway and awning. I drove around the block and found a place to park. I walked to where I could take some photos of it because I knew I needed more to go by to get the bottom of the red building right.

This morning has been spent happily painting. I like how my awning and door way have turned out.

Painting the Entrance of the Red Building

 Today I need to go find a good tree to use as a model. I need to see how the sky peeks through and what the light looks like on the leaves and branches. We have mostly pine in my area with some deciduous trees. May have to hunt one down on-line.

 Yesterday I also saw this building and liked the window trim so I will begin to work on the windows at some point using this model.
They won't be in the same order. I still need to get the angles right. Maybe later at this point I must move on to the rest of my day.

With the detail of the face of the sun I am pushing the whole project in a less abstract direction than I originally imagined.
Honestly I needed to give myself some lee-way in the event that I could not pull of the realism.
I always star on the most challenging part of a project and if I can manage that the rest will follow. On this one morphing the baby and the sun was the biggest challenge.

Painting Morning of  5/18/2012

Its funny, I've been walking past it for the past couple of days and each time I say "Oh yeah like the sun". I feel that way about the awning entrance at this point too. 

Where I have stopped today. 5/18/2012

Thinking Ahead

I started last night working on defining the buildings. In the original photo there was another layer of walk ways or something in front of the buildings and I decided to bring the buildings down to street level. I also added a tree. It was there but kind of lost in the side of the building. None of these areas are close to being done but I am trying to sort out what I want and don't want in this painting. I am a firm believer that keeping things simple is a good plan.

As I look at it, I may add another tree to the right of the green building to give the area a bit more of a park like setting.

I have an idea for another painting and I talked to a friend about having her adorable daughter pose for some photographs that I will use as a reference. The little tike was sick this week, but there is no hurry, I still have a ways to go on this one. It is exciting to me to have another picture in my head that I want to paint. Her name is Autumn and she has the most beautiful red/orange curly hair. Every week when I arrive to teach her older brother guitar, she hides behind the front door to surprise me. She is often still dressed in her sleeper jammies and her hair is all wild. In those moments she reminds me of little thing one and two from Dr. Seus. I want to kind of play with the idea of painting Autumn in the Summer, laying in the grass laughing at the butterflies. Painting children is not something I have any experience with. I did do a figure drawing class in college. So this idea will push me to explore more unknown painting territory.

I think I want to also experiment with some mixed media projects that use both paining and mosaic work but at this point I have no solid subject in mind. Just thinking ahead and imagining the possibilities while I work on this project.

Fun on the Sun

I'm thankful for some of the new photos that Eleanore sent to me of her great grandchild.
I kept the big eyes from the earlier photo but made them blue. I used the mouth and nose from the top one.
I think I am getting close. It now has a sweet child like quality.

I am going to take a break on the face and start working on some other areas of the painting. 
You can scroll back through the previous posts to see how the face has progressed.


So now the question is building, bridge or barge?
I'm probably leaning towards the building. Check back for regular updates on this and other projects.