Do you have any understanding of the difficulty of coming up with interesting titles to the same subjects, over and over and over? Just asking, not really expecting any answers.
These paintings, 6×18”, of Sequoia Gigantea, AKA Redwoods, AKA Big Trees, sell very steadily at $195 each. I get a little tired of painting the same thing over, until I think about the alternative occupations of waitress or secretary. Thus, I began another set-up of three of these popular paintings, with layer #1 completed last week.
Layer #2 is sky, because I work from back to front, meaning that I paint the most distant thing first.
Next, the wood. Redwood.
Then, green on the big trees.
Green on the more distant trees is supposed to be less vivid, more bluish green, a bit lighter.
Hold on—Jackson is hungry, poor deprived underfed malnourished beast, begging for a morsel. He begins with slamming into the back of my legs as I stand at the easel, gripes at me if I don’t respond, and eventually, he stretches upward and bites me. So, I must feed him if I expect to finish any work.
The last layer is the ground with its shadows. For variety, I put the sun at two different angles.
Notice the lack of reference photos. They are taped to another easel, and I only glance at them from time to time. Yeppers, I am making up these trees rather than trying to copy any one tree exactly. Visitors to the Park don’t know the details; the main request is to have a painting show the entire tree, from top to botrom.
These paintings will dry, and then I will begin layer #3, which is the most enjoyable part to this pencil artist: details!
P.S. If you don’t hear from me for the rest of the week, fret not. I’ll post about the mural progress next Monday.
