Spring Stream, 20 x 24, UART 400

Underpainting

I have just finished this painting, which I began on Saturday morning. We had open studios at Washington ArtWorks and they asked me to do a demo. So I decided that my demo would be of the underpainting, which I’ve included.  I chose to use all warm colors under the greens. I went back and added the dark blue violet on the left side, as the underpainting didn’t seem to have enough darks in it.  I then worked on the painting in my studio all weekend, talking to visitors about the process. Finished it today with more time for complete concentration.

The composition is pretty true to the original photo, but I’ve added the dogwood and the dandelions in the front.  In the photo, the greens are all the same, so I worked primarily from the black and white photo–I had both that and the color but the B&W was at eye level.  I let small pieces of the reds show through and found it to be a big help in the background.  I really enjoyed working on this painting, something with a lot more detail than I often do.