The Exit To San Breta - stage 8

Another glaze of Indanthrene Blue on the sky and darkening the more overhead clouds as well as darkening the line of distant mountains on the horizon. After some darker underpainting on the road I have started to refine the desert and scrub on the right of the picture. getting more of an idea now as to how the lighting is going to work with the artificial lights on the left contrasting with the dusk-lit landscape.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 7

I have painted the first glaze over the sky although you won't notice a lot of difference at this stage but this is all I have time for before I have to leave Brighton to look after my elderly parents 150 miles away. The next chance I will have to work on it will be Wednesday afternoon when I hope to paint the second glaze. I wanted to glaze it with a certain kind of transparent blue and noticed in Cass Arts a Winsor & Newton colour called Indanthrene Blue which looks like a good call, there was no Michael Harding colour that seemed to fit the bill.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 6

I decided that the sky wasn't ready for glazing so I refined the clouds ready for the first glaze tomorrow instead. I then put in the distant mountains and made a start on the desert.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 5

In the couple of hours I had this morning before going away again I managed to get the sky ready for glazing when I return on Friday. It's a particular time of dusk that I am trying to depict and glazing it from now on should give me enough control over how dark I want it to go (not too dark).
Incidentally I normally work on linen but there is no pre-stretched linen available in this size and format so I tried painting two extra coats of oil primer over the Winsor and Newton canvas, fine sanding between coats. This has given me a surface that is nearer to linen and and seems to take the paint pretty much how I want it. I will do this for other paintings from now on as now I know how to change the surface of the canvas.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 4

I have painted in the first stage of the sky to get an idea of placement of clouds etc. I will paint in darker clouds tomorrow when it should be ready for the first glaze. I have also added more darks to the tonal underpainting for the landscape and road so we are now getting an idea as to how the finished painting will look. The tonal underpainting used a mix of Burnt Sienna and Manganese Violet thinned with Liquin. The sky has mixes of Lemon Yellow and Kings Blue Light with touches of Prussian Blue and Permanent Orange, the Orange being used to temper the saturation.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 3

I got back to the studio this afternoon and managed to put in some darker tone washes into the landscape and put some pale blue/yellow into the sky.
As far as I can ascertain there is nowhere called San Breta in Arizona...

The Exit To San Breta - stage 2

Using a rag I have washed in a tonal underpainting with a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and turpentine. I will now have to leave it until I am back in the studio on Sunday.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 1

This is a private commission for a buyer that wants a painting centred around the short story by George R.R. Martin called "The Exit To San Breta". A white Ford Edsel is parked in a gas station forecourt somewhere in the vast expanse of the Arizona desert. The gas station and car are illuminated by a few lights in an otherwise fairly dark landscape seen in the dusk, a sign for the San Breta turnoff is at the right of the picture near a small wooden white cross. The road in the right foreground is in poor condition with weeds growing in the cracks of the tarmac but the road becomes pristine in condition as it nears the gas station and highway lights. The composition is based on Thirds with the skyline and placement of the gas station and road sign at intervals of a third from the edges of the painting. The colours will be more subdued than recent paintings based on a blue/green - red/orange complementary colour axis. The San Breta sign is red and will probably be the most saturated part of the picture in terms of colour. The particular mood of the painting will be carried by the sky which I intend to be at a particular time of dusk when there is still daylight in the sky and the landscape isn't too dark.
This stage was "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and turpentine.

Seven paintings sold

At The End Of The Day

A nice lady in New York has just bought the following seven paintings through Artfinder:
"At The End Of The Day"
"Berts"
"Drive Thru"
"Lucky Dogs"
"Mardi Gras World"
"Siren's Cove"
"Tram Stop"

"Lucky Dogs" and "Mardi Gras World" are paintings of New Orleans based on shots I took  in 1994 when I was there for a World Fantasy convention. ""Tram Stop" is of an imaginary city somewhere in Europe in an undetermined decade. "Drive Thru" is based on reference photos I took in Chicago in 1991 when attending a World Science Fiction convention. "Siren's Cove" and "At The End Of The Day" are completely works from the imagination, "At The End Of The Day" being used on the cover of my latest book "Dreamland". "Drive Thru" was a finalist in the 2016 Artists Of The Year exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London organised by Artists & Illustrators magazine and won a prize of £500 worth of digital printing by Gemini Digital Colour.

Berts

Drive Thru

Lucky Dogs

Mardi Gras World

Siren's Cove

Tram Stop