Borrowed Horse
30 x 40
My blog is moving to a new platform! From now on, if you've subscribed to receive my posts, you'll get them from: [email protected]. Please add this address to your contacts list to avoid the dreaded spam filter.
I've written "A Painter's Progress" since 2009 and it's been a record of my struggle to teach myself to paint. Looking back, I can see how far I've come. I've moved a few years of the blog over to the new platform and the rest will be deleted when I delete my account on Blogger in a month or so. If you've always had a hankering to read further back, now's the time!
I thought I'd start the new blog off right with a painting that I've just completed and loved working on. I've done more than my usual amount of problem solving on this one and here are some progress shots to show you the journey.
My sister and 2 brothers on a headless horse
many years ago
Finding my way in. I never draw first, but am always adjusting the
drawing as I work, thinking in shapes, not lines.
Focusing on the faces and trying to see them
just as shadow and light. Likeness didn't matter. What
I'm trying to convey is universal and a specific likeness would
ruin that feeling.
I decided that the trees had to go. I prefer the
mood of optimism and light in this pale column of light
behind the figures.
Almost there, but it felt dull. I let this version rest for a while and, on a
sunny day, realized that it was missing sunshine. This is a summertime image as
most memories from childhood are, and I needed to make that clear.
I hit the color harder on the light-struck planes of the horse and caught
a few crisp, rich darks here and there to make if feel lighter overall.
The finished version is a joyful memory - despite the fact that I didn't exist yet.
I've grown up with this photo and have created a false memory of it, one in which I was there, too.
And it was a grand day!
Happy painting!
