This painting has been done for a few days, but unfortunately Mother Nature decided I wasn’t allowed to take a picture of it yet. Today is a nicer day, so I was finally able to photograph and post this.

This was a big learning painting for me. Besides just the little girl (which took some work), I learned a lot about painting stone, light coming through trees, cast shadows, and much more. The most amusing thing to me on this painting is I used a lot of two colors I don’t normally use. Payne’s Gray and Yellow. They are now solid members of my color palette.

Here’s the painting in all it’s final glory, as well as a detail shot of just the girl and dog (and shoes. heh). Thanks for watching!

Finished painting.

Detail shot of the girl and dog.

I’ve gotten some good work done this weekend on both pieces I’m working on. This one is coming alone beautifully, and I’m quite pleased. Still have more work to do tonight (going to see how far I can get with the girl tonight), but I thought this would be a good point to show.

The tree she’s laying on is done, save for a few shadows from her that I’ll put in when I’m done with her. Unfortunately, this picture doesn’t show all the detail on the tree. I’ll be sure to get a good picture of it later to show it. The girl is coming along quite well, though. I got her body shortened up a bit and it looks right now, so it’s on to color. I purposely went real light for her skin so it covered the dark of the tree, and from here I’ll start putting in the proper skin color. The shirt and pants will likely drive me a little nuts as they are both blue but of a slightly different shade. I’ll work with it, though, and get it to look just right.

I’m thinking of blocking in the dog now, too, while I’m on a roll. Not sure, though. I think I want to mess with the ground a bit before I do him.

Back to it. Just thought y’all might like to see this stage. :)

Finished tree and start on the girl

Got the foreground tree to a good point, and decided to get the girl sketched in (with white pastel) to get an idea of where I need to put detail and where I don’t.

For my artist friends, this might not seem remarkable. To me, however, with my general fear of people… this is huge! I usually sketch something like this on paper and then transfer it to the canvas. This time, I just went for it… and I’m thrilled! Her body is a bit long, but that’s an easy fix.

So, yes, here y’all go. Well over the hill on this one and picking up speed coming down the other side. :)

Foreground tree half done, and sketched out the girl on the tree.

I got the first fallen tree done last night and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. There’s something about the bark of a tree that’s weirdly soothing to work on, at least to me. I have some leaves to work on between the logs, and was having a problem getting them the right color last night so I figured it was time to put it away. Of course, after I put it away I figured out what I was doing wrong. Just means I’ll be able to get those leaves done quickly tonight, though, and then get onto the foreground log. That one shouldn’t take long in itself as it’s a more simple one, but there’s a girl laying on it which will make it a little harder. :)

First fallen tree finished.

Having gotten the background done (I’m sure I’ll be tweeking stuff as usual), and the base laid out for the middle ground, I finished up the highlights on the middle ground trees/bushes. This is a better picture than the last one (you can actually see that the sky back there is blue!), but still not quite representational. But it is a lot better.

I’ve also started on the first fallen tree. That was my last act before going to bed last night. I will work on it when I get home and hope to get that tree finished tonight. Should be doable, actually. Hoping to have another progress picture for y’all tomorrow! :)

Middle ground trees and bushes finished.

Despite computer issues (had to reinstall Windows on it. Stupid computers) and thus problems getting a image manipulating program onto the computer, I have progress to show! (this is the only thing that went well today. I will take it, though, I can so easily get lost while I’m painting and everything else just vanishes).

Starting to get some of the mid ground trees and leaves and bushes situated. Again, as always, not the greatest picture, but it is night time. The depth that’s show now is surprising even to me. I will soon be done with that, then will start on the far log/fallen tree (which shouldn’t take long at all). And then, I get start work on the focal point..

I’ve missed doing landscapes. There’s something about them. The trees, the grass, rocks, the glow from the sunlight behind the trees… Just love  them. And to think, trees scared me enough a few years ago (2007) that I did a bunch of play pieces before even putting them in Modern Old Memphis. But now they just flow for me pretty well.

Remember, the color isn’t quite exact. Once of these updates I’ll get a real good picture so y’all can see what it really looks like. :)

Work on the mid ground foliage.

Landscapes are sometimes a tricky thing. I think a lot of artists work hard on the leaves of the trees, and if that’s the centerpiece of the painting, that’s good. If it’s not, though, I feel it can sometimes detract from the actual focal point. As I said in my last post, I use a sponge to do the majority of the leaves on a tree, and will go back in with brushes to lay in the final details. I’m at the darkening phase right now, and have another sponge layer or two of dark before I start lightening again.

The hard part of the way I do this is the fact that I have to repaint the trees a few times. First I get them set where I want them, and then the leaves have to get started. I could, in theory, just do a bunch of ‘leaves’ with the sponge and put the trees over that, but then it really looks just like that… leaves in mid air without a base. Even though I’ll have to go back over the trees in parts to make them stand out, I think this is a more ‘realistic’ way of doing it. At least it makes me happier with the result.

As I said, here’s the darkening I’ve done. I may put another picture up right before I start the lighter parts, but likely I’ll put one up with the first touch of light instead. It really depends on how things go.

Darkening the forest

I started getting the trees shaded and highlighted as well as getting some of the far background leaves in and thought it was a good time to take a picture. Not the greatest shot it could be, but it’s getting there. This is with two ‘layers’ of color laid down for the leaves, and lots more to go.

I do most leaves with sea sponges of varying textures and sizes. I found the absolutely perfect one for this particular painting, and I can also see myself using it in the future for trees as well. I love how random it is but also how controllable as well. Does that make sense? I just hope that is visible in the picture, but I will try to get a better picture for my next update (which will also have more leaves in it).

This is a bit of a fun one for me as far as trees. Usually I go from dark to light, with a little bit of having to put some darks back in. In this one, I have to go from light to dark and back to light, and will likely, again, have to put some darks back in. But at least I get to play with my sponges. (seriously, it’s my favorite part of doing trees. :))

The first few layers of leaves in place.

Well, more like tree silouettes. I’ve started to get some of the background trees in, in preparation for the leaves. I’ve gotten the sky color exactly how I want it to be (which took some playing around), and then starting getting some of the tree forms in. I’ve purposely kept them very simple since they’re far back as well as because they’re going to be mostly covered with leaves anyway.

This is where I’m at for the moment. I plan to work more tonight some, and then pick it back up in the morning. I’m anxious to work on the two fallen trees in front (the two ‘empty’ spaces), but I just have to be patient. :)

Some background tree work.

Knowing what to do before doing detail is really the hard part for me. I like to lay down the very background color and work from there, and I always work background to foreground when I’m painting. So, with this piece, I had a lot of different colors to really work with and get how I wanted them. I’m quite pleased with how this looks at the moment, and feel excited to continue with it.

Just like always, this has completely covered all of the sketch I put down. Sometimes I wonder why I bother doing more than just very basic elements. :P

Getting the base background colors in.