Dangerous Waters: The Temptation To Overwork A Painting

"Breaking the Day" 17 x 23 in. Mixed Media on Paper
Another workshop, this time working from digital art-- in this case it was Randy Sprout's "Fortuna on the Spot"







(Click here to view Randy Sprout's original piece:http://www.redbubble.com/people/randysprout/art/4863131-fortuna-on-the-spot)



To participate in Sojie 13, I chose to approach Randy about his piece for two reasons: I loved the bold composition of the digital work, and I have a strange need to paint boats on a regular basis. I thought I would approach the piece as an acrylic painting with chalk pastel as a top layer. It turned out to be more of a pastel painting on an acrylic surface, because I ended up covering the entire acrylic painting with the chalk.




It started off simple enough, and I liked my original sketch so much I had to convince myself to get started with the paint. It's not that I have such a high opinion of my sketching abilities, but rather that I always enjoy the beginning stage, when I'm first getting an idea down on paper:



(Rough sketch done with blue chalk pastel on gessoed watercolor paper)



Once I worked up the courage to add some acrylic, I mapped out values and a little color and texture:



(Acrylic underpainting, done on top of pastel sketch)


This sat for a couple of days as well, as it's always hard for me to go back to a painting once I take a break from it. This is because the anxiety starts to set in, and I always fear I'm going to screw the whole thing up when I take it to the next stage. Pastel is my "old steady" medium, however, and knowing that I would enjoy myself once I got going with the chalk helped motivate me to finish the final stage.



(Final piece: chalk pastel on top of acrylic underpainting)



The last stage was definitely the biggest struggle for me, as I had to walk away from the painting a few times because I caught myself overworking the piece. How do I know when I"ve hit that point? There are several clues: adding "details'" that aren"t making much difference in the piece, feeling frustrated because there are tiny flaws (which produce new flaws once addressed) and an overall impatience because I know the piece is done, but I can't stop picking my materials up and going back to it.




I finally just signed it and walked away from the work, forcing myself to take a break, and declared it officially done. I still ended up changing a little of the water, but this was because I saw a need to lighten it after seeing a work in progress and noting I had lost some of the contrast (another bad side effect of overworking!)




After it's all finished, a little breather from the work gives me new appreciation for it, letting me know that it really has reached the final stage and I can move on to other projects.







To view the Sojie 13 workshop in its entirety, click here:































































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Painting Cats

Image
"The Bookeeper" Click here to view auction After many years of painting cats, I've learned a few things.  Every time I start a new cat painting, it follows its own unique path, bringing challenges that I don't seem to face when I paint my more traditional material (landscapes, birds, floral and botanical pieces, etc.) For example, cats don't stay put for too long (unless they're asleep, and even then they'll often stretch and change positions when you're least expecting it).  To combat this challenge, I end up working mostly from photographs.  That means adjusting the proportions, since the camera angle causes some distortion depending on the position and location of the cat. "Eye Contact" Oil Pastel Not for Sale "Side Glance" Oil Pastel Available on Etsy  One of the reasons cats are enjoyable to paint is that they have strong facial expressions.  When I'm painting a cat, I get so focused on rendering the cat
Read more

A Hot Mess of Water Lilies!

Image
"Balboa Water Lilies" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel on Paper Click here to view large or purchase So, every time I take great photos to paint later it turns into a learning experience for me. We took a little day trip in September down to Balboa Park in San Diego, California.  There wasn't much left of the water lilies after some recent vandalism (a bunch of geniuses decided to have a water gun fight and ended up destroying the lilypond).  It was a strangely hot day for downtown San Diego-- part of a series of heat waves that dogged me throughout the last months of my pregnancy.  I was thrilled to get some pretty photos while down there, particularly of the lilypads and turtles. I love to paint water, but I forget how time consuming it can be.  There are lots of layers involved, and I ended up using fixative as I layered in the lights and darks in this piece.  I also didn't anticipate how difficult it is to depict those peaceful, floating lilypads.  After a couple of
Read more

Inspired by Light (Pastels on Canvas)

Image
"Morning Glow" 12 x 16 Chalk Pastel on Flat Canvas Email nicolehilsabeck@yahoo.com if interested in purchasing Been trying to get back into the daily painting routine, which for me either means a small painting a day, or a larger painting spread over two days.  It's a bit of a challenge with the growing belly and a very inquisitive firstborn, but I was lucky enough to get a little extra inspiration from an odd source: Sunday's eclipse. We have beautiful views of the canyon and hills behind us, and I watched the light change on this hill as the sunlight waned throughout the course of the eclipse.  I noted how the normally stunning lights and shadows on this hill were blunted by the general darkening (as opposed to the usual sunrise or sunset glow).  I thought I would be a little more appreciative of those lights and darks and try a painting of the trees and hills the next morning. I completed this painting in several steps, having struggled a little recentl
Read more