Barn Painting

I'm trying out new techniques (new to me) with the Cobra Paints and am following an instructional DVD by M. Katherine Hurley, http://www.artistsnetwork.com

I painted over an old oil painting I had done when I first started to learn. I wasn't sure if WS oils cold be used over traditional oils, but I figured it is just a lesson in painting so I'd gave it a try. I didn't try to smooth down the canvas because, I wasn't sure how the unevenness of sanding high spots would effect the adhesion of the WS Oils. I did put a fine layer of walnut oil down before covering the canvas with Cobra's Titanium white. I might add a few more trees around the barn to cover up the textures from the previous painting.



Now I have to wait a day or two before continuing to let it dry a bit.

Judy

I love the colours on this!

It's a little scary to me since I'm not used to painting like this, but I've seen the finished painting on the DVD so I think I'll survive it and learn a great deal in the process.
judy

The colors are beautifully vivid. Looks great!

Dayle

Wonderful colors!

As I progressed with the painting, I realized the demonstrator was not going to do too much more with the darker part of the sky. I felt it was very ominous and really uninteresting so I adapted it to a photo I had taken of a sunset the other night. I think it makes it much more interesting and brightens up the painting. I did take advantage of the under painting color to enhance the effect and really liked that. I used Cobra's cobalt blue, pyrrole red, titanium white and permanent yellow light to make the changes to the sky.



She also left the foreground very plain with more greens but really nothing of interest. I think I will be added a dirt road and some fensing leading up to the barn to draw you into the painting. We'll see how that works.

Judy

It's coming along great! Those colors are amazing.

Here is some of the improvements to the foreground. I think I have to brighten some of it. The tree needs toning down and the barn needs restructuring to make it more interesting. I'm not exactly sure how that will be but something. Any suggestions would be appreciated.



Judy

I don't know that you need to do any more with it. I really like it how it is.

Dayle

Thanks Dayle,

It really is hard taking someone else's beginnings and making into your own. I realize she was mainly showing how to bring light into your painting, but it just felt so incomplete. I'll leave it on the easel for now and look at it in different lighting and see if there is any tweaking to do. Have you had your surgery yet? I hope all is going well with you.

Judy

Wow I love it! The color and scene are amazing!

Thanks for asking Judy. Yes, I just came home from the hospital 3 days ago. Didn't waste any time getting back on line. I should be mostly recovered in 2 months, so I pretty happy now.
Dayle

Thanks Janet. It's been a challenge.

Dayle, I'm glad it is done and you are on the road to recovery.

Judy, I especially like what you've done with the sky.

Skies are fascinating, and Helen and I will often look up and stop and remark upon one. "If you painted that just like it is, no one would believe it was a real scene. They'd say you used way too much dioxazine purple and should have toned it down. And those clouds, they look like someone took a brush and just smeared over some palette knife strokes."

endless facination,.. and I love your sky.

Thanks Alan,

I did paint over some old palette knife strokes. It was an old canvas I painted over but never sanded because it was just a practice session based on someone else's painting techniques. Now I wish I had sanded it...oh well.

Here's the photo I took at sunset that I based the sky on. The purples intensify as the sun gets lower in the Arizona sky.



I actually didn't use any dioxazine purple. That was all a blending of cobalt blue and pyrolle red. The demonstrator used very strong application of these colors in the under painting and that carried through as I painted over her sky.

I still have work to do on the foreground but I'm just letting it rest for a while.

My favorite thing to paint are skies. I'm glad you appreciate them, too.

Judy

Judy, I chuckled when I saw your note. You had used some of the very painting techniques I had mentioned in my examples of skies we see from time to time. How little I know!

My favourite skies of the "they would never believe this sky if we painted it like it really is" variety are those with extremely vibrant pure colours, or very "deliberate" looking patterns in the clouds. As in the Simpsons animated TV show: the intro, with all those puffy white identical clouds.

But I'll stop now, before I accidentally offend someone by appearing critical of colours or techniques. Nothing could be further from my intention. I am just playing around here with the concept of the real sky that is too 'unreal' to paint like it really is...

best of luck on this painting!

I realized when I looked at the sky photo and last photo of the painting that when I Photoshopped the painting, I lost the real colors that were more visible in the previous painting photo.

Anyway, I think it is done now and here is the latest photo. The lighting was better and hopefully the truer colors show up. I didn't do anything else to the sky, but I did more foreground work and changed that boring barn. As I look at the photo here, I think I need to adjust the shadowing of the foliage to the right of the path. They are in too much of a sloping pattern pulling your eye away the path to the barn.


One more time.

Judy

Hi Judy
Looking at the photo and where you are up to. You don't have to take any notice but I think I would be brushing a thin wash of purple over the painting when it is dry then drying it off with a rag. You can do this several times until you achieve the mood you want.
Cheers
Jack

Thanks Jack,

I think I have gotten the right blend of things with the actual painting. I may add a purple wash with a touch of zinc white to the distant trees to set them in the distance more but I'll wait until it is completely dry.

Judy

Beautiful painting Judy! Love the warmth!