10/27/15 Detail

I'm very pleased with the progress on this architectural landscape and am just starting some of the detail work. As you can see I start at the top of a painting and work my way down for no more reason other than that's how I've always done it. I suppose I started painting that way to keep my hand from working on top of fresh paint and ruining my work. There is detail to the soffit's, the windows, and the shudders and I expect to post up close detsil pictures of that work.

10-24-15 First steps

These are the first steps of the full size painting. I laid down the sky and let it dry completely before the trees were painted in then a little detail work on the cupola and chimneys. The little color study that was posted first wasn't big enough to show details of the building but this full size painting will allow me to add enough detail yet enable me to keep it painterly which is what I like. The painting image size its 11x15"which when matted will perfectly fit a 16x20" frame.

10-20-15 Color Study

This color study is executed in water color paints and is a quarter of the size of the original. You'll notice it is rendered in a very loose style with no intention of accuracy, the only focus is the color. I'm looking to see if the color is right, lights against darks, shadow sides versus sunlit sides. I took the liberty of bringing the grass yard closer to the foreground than photos captured it and made the background trees denser. I think this adds to the design of the painting.

10-15-15 Framed drawing

This is the enlarged drawing of the courthouse with no embellishments to it yet. My plan is to next paint an 8x10 color study and post that pic on this blog, the color study will help me work out the warm and cools of the painting as well as value and hue.

10-7-15 Commission

These are two initial pencil and ink sketches that I am working on for a possible commission. At this point they are simplistic and only highlighting the shadows and masses. In this stage I prefer not to think of the building for what it is but only as a shape that must fit the composition. Is the perspective right, are the darks dark enough and the lights light enough? What about the background and foreground? These are questions I'm working out.