Dawn Fortress - stage 4

 I think the mosque needs some tweaks tomorrow before I glaze/scumble in the morning mist. Hopefully I hope I can sign it off tomorrow afternoon...

Dawn Fortress - stage 3

 Painted in the basic fortress and rocks and the first colour pass on the morning mist at right. Hoping to get in the mosque and sea tomorrow ready for a final colour pass over the whole painting and finish on Sunday. That's the plan anyway...

New colour used: Ultramarine Violet.

Dawn Fortress - stage 2

 To get the sky how I want I first have to paint in the pink and then glaze the blue over it (on the right hand side). In the meantime I have gave the rest of it a desaturated blue/green wash. The painting will be based on a blue/green - red/orange colour complementary.

Colours used so far: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Red, Permanent Orange, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

Dawn Fortress - stage 1

 This is kind of a study for a forthcoming larger painting in my "Point Of Light" series. I have realised that I need to get some paintings done for upcoming Every Day Original slots as well as needing work to take to IX in October. It looks like I will be exhibiting the Point Of Light paintings at the Abend Gallery in Denver CO early next year and need about 15 for the show and have done 5 so far so I need to press on with both directions at the same time...

This will have an interesting light and colour to it which I will carry over to the larger painting but need to try my hand at painting water first so this is where I will start. This could be an old Crusader castle taken over by the Ottoman Turks who have built a mosque in it and is probably located on the coast of Turkey... not that this ever existed as it is of course a fantasy....

This is the tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and flat brushes.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Outsider

 

This is the fifth in my new series that has a working title of "Point Of Light". 

A modest house on a well kept plot sits on a ridge amidst a poor neighborhood near a derelict petrol (gas) station, in the background is a distant brightly lit city skyline. The person/people that lives here seems comfortable to live away from the conventional norms of modern life represented by the glittering city and quietly get on with the way they want to live albeit in possibly reduced circumstances - a price they are happy to pay.

Each painting in this series is designed to make the most of the elongated panoramic format and I always saw this one in my mind as three horizontal strips, the night sky, the glittering city and the dark foreground. I think the next one will be connected to water, maybe a lake or the sea..... or maybe reflections in puddles.....

Oil on canvas 39" x 16". I always give the canvas three extra coats of gesso sanding down between coats to fill in the weave a bit so that it is nearer to my preferred painting support of linen.

There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

The Outsider - stage 7

 I think I have put in enough on the left side of the foreground and have made a start on the foreground road. With a bit of luck I should finish it tomorrow..... maybe I will tweak the broken paving on the abandoned gas station tomorrow too...

The Outsider - stage 6

 When will I learn my lesson? I have struggled again with the foreground area left of centre because I hadn't really worked out what was going there. Now I like to wing it and make things up as I go along but I must remember to do that only after at least deciding the objects going in there... then I'm free to improvise. Anyway after a few hours of going nowhere I decided to put in a derelict petrol station as the line between the foreground and background needs to be broken up. Other assorted posts and buildings will go in tomorrow.

New colours used: Chromium Green and Manganese Violet.

The Outsider - stage 5

 Leaving the sky alone and see if it looks alright later on. Have made a start on the distant city skyline but stopped before I finished the right side as I will look at it tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee to evaluate if it is going OK.

New colours used: Brilliant Pink and Manganese Blue Hue.

The Outsoder - stage 4

 More work on the sky today trying to get it right and ready for the lights of the big city to go in with lots of subtle changes...let's hope it looks good enough tomorrow morning so that I can start on the city...eventually.

The Outsider - stage 3

 Actually it's really stage 4 as I forgot to post the first colour pass on the sky... so this is the second colour pass on the sky. I have some reference for the sky but I have largely ignored it and am making it up as I go along. I have mostly used a rag to paint the sky and am just starting to use a brush on it. I think it's on it's way but will need at least another colour pass tomorrow before the sky is finished. Then on to the city lights...

Colours used so far: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Orange, Naples Yellow Reddish Extra, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

The Outsider - stage 2

 Finished the initial tonal underpainting and hoping I have the scale of the distant city right - I can probably make the buildings bigger if I need to. I have a choice of colours of the sky, one based around pinks and oranges and the other with added desaturated blue/green. I will choose over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee....

The Outsider - stage 1

 The next in the as yet unnamed series this one as I planned is an urban piece. All in this series try to make use of the panoramic format with this one having a city skyline running right across the picture, something you'll have to take my word for until I finish the tonal underpainting tomorrow. A well kept modest house sits on the edge of a big city surrounded by vacant lots and industrial buildings - whoever lives here have their own thing going as they quietly get on with it the way they want to live their lives....

This is the first part of the tonal underpainting using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with flat brushes.

Oil on canvas 39" x 16".