Keller's Tomb

 An homage to an homage... I've always been a big fan of Ferdinand Keller a contemporary of Arnold Bocklin who painted the famous "Isle of The Dead" series. One of Keller's paintings is "The Tomb of Bocklin" which was an homage to Bocklin and I in turn am painting an imagination of Keller's Tomb which I have attempted to paint in Keller's style. I have composed it with his trademark dark cypress trees massed together to form dark dramatic shapes against the rocky mountains. The Wisteria is a nod to Keller's painting of Bocklin's tomb. To my mind this has an element of being two paintings in one with a Ferdinand Keller landscape in the foreground set against a landscape reminiscent of the Hudson River School... but I guess I'm too close to it and other people won't see it in this way... I guess I couldn't stop it eventually coming out like a Mark Harrison landscape painting which I guess is no bad thing...

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

Keller's Tomb - stage 6

 Made inroads into painting the tomb and rocks etc feeling my way along trying to get the colours near to Ferdinand Keller which turns out to be using Naples Yellow and various greens.

New colour used: Bright Green Lake

Keller's Tomb - stage 5

 OK I have painted in the trees which are the main connection to Ferdinand Keller's paintings in the way that he blocks them all together. Might need to darken areas in the background but will paint in the rocks and foreground tomorrow and see what needs to be tweaked then.

Keller's Tomb - stage 4

 Although I am trying to paint this a bit like Ferdinand Keller it is of course coming out like a Mark Harrison which I guess is OK, the foreground will be a chance to put my plan into action but I bet it still comes out like a Mark Harrison....

This is the first colour pass on the sky and background which I'm hoping is in fact pretty much finished so that I can make a start on the trees tomorrow. The background at right has come out like a Hudson River School painting but I guess that is no bad thing in the end.

Colours used: Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Dioxazine Purple, Permanent Sap Green, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Naples Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Unbleached Titanium, Warm Light Yellow and Warm White. All Michael Harding paints.

Keller's Tomb - stage 3

 After giving the tonal underpainting a second pass of the Burnt Sienna/Dioxazine Purple mix I decided to do things a bit differently and waited for it to dry over the day and then I gave it a wash of Transparent Yellow Oxide. I am looking to emulate the colours of his paintings and am hoping this will be a good start particularly for the shrine and rocks....

Keller's Tomb - stage 2

 After considerable thought over breakfast coffee and afterwards I honed the composition down to this which I hope will have something of a Ferdinand Keller painting about it when it's finished. I decided to extend the massed dark area which I think is how he did it and sorted out the foreground better. So the initial tonal underpainting is finished....

Keller's Tomb - stage 1

 An homage to an homage.... I've always been a big fan of Ferdinand Keller a contemporary and friend of Arnold Bocklin who painted the famous "Isle Of The Dead" series. A favourite Keller painting is "The Tomb Of Bocklin" and my painting is an imagination of Ferdinand Keller's tomb in a typical Keller landscape of dark cypress trees which he usually massed together to form dark dramatic shapes in a high contrast landscape. To this end I have started to draw it up but felt that I had to stop today after massing some dark shapes for the trees as I decide on the rest of the landscape over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee. At the moment I can't quite visualise how I want it to go so best to stop now and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning.

This is the beginning of the drawing up and tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin.

Oil on linen 22" x 16'.