A Sacred Space - stage 1

 While I wait for "The Singing Tree" to dry I thought that I would get on with another one in this tree series, This one also comes out of a combination of a Midjourney piece, my imagination and memories of seeing the remains of a Wiccan (?) ceremony in Kingley Vale some years ago. The Midjourney piece (shown at the bottom of this post) triggered the idea by the way the light has pooled into one area below the tree and immediately put in my mind what I saw at Kingley Vale that morning.

For this tonal underpainting I thought that I would try a number of colours instead of the usual monochrome. The colours I used were: Burnt Sienna, Dioxazine Purple, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Manganese Blue Hue, Phthalocyanine Green, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

Oil on Fine cotton 16" x 12".

Midjourney

 

The Singing Tree - stage 2

 Starting to work into the central tree and the foreground tree at left. Decided not to go for a Maxfield Parrish feel as I was contemplating and went for a misty morning in the forest look instead. Still using the colours I started with yesterday.

The Singing Tree - stage 1

 Well I seem to be carrying on with this tree theme so here's another one. I'm still not particularly happy with the first two so I'm having another go. As before this is from a Midjourney piece that is the trigger for the painting, the title arrived immediately so I'm staying with it as obviously the painting wants to be called this. There will be a small figure at the top of the steps. 

I tried something different with the tonal underpainting on this one and used a background blue colour in the top half and then used a warmer mix for the rest of the tree and foreground etc.

Colours used: Prussian Blue, Transparent Red Oxide, Dioxazine Purple and Permanent Orange.

Oil on fine cotton 12" x 16".

Midjourney

Daphne

 I was originally intending to start a figurative painting of Hecate Greek goddess of The Underworld but seem to have been sidetracked into one of my periods of trying things out (seems to happen about once a year particularly after I have been to IX) so as ever I'm willing to see where this goes. The current theme seems to be trees so I will follow the trail and see where it leads, hopefully what I learn will inform the Hecate painting when I get to start it. 

I have been trying some things in Midjourney which has set me off on this current trail. The Midjourney piece that was behind Daphne (which is at the bottom of this post) came out of the jumble of shapes on the left looking like a fleeing figure which in turn led to the idea of having a figure of Daphne the Greek goddess being turned into a tree by Apollo. I decided to just go for it at the tonal underpainting stage and see what I could come up with using the basic shape of the tree in the Midjourney piece as a starter. As ever I am not totally over the Moon as to how it has come out but maybe I'm just too close to it. I already have the idea for the next tree painting...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

There is a short step-by-step progress though this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

Midjourney

Daphne - stage 3

 This actually is the stage it was a couple of days ago and is now nearly finished although as always struggling with the figure...

Daphne - stage 2

 I'm kind of seeing where the painting wants to go and is already looking different to my original intention. That's fine as long as it looks OK at the end! I will have a look at it with fresh eyes over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee and see where to go next.

Colours used: Prussian Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Pale Violet, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Orange, Cadmium Yellow Light, Yellow Lake Deep, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Zinc White.

Daphne - stage 1

 Initial tonal underpainting for "Daphne", a painting that wasn't in my plans but it seems it wanted to be painted so here goes. Head not sorted yet, basically winging it from an initial Midjourney piece shown at the bottom of this post.

My next painting was meant to be a figurative picture based on reference photos I took last week of my usual model Naomi Wood of Hecate Greek goddess of The Underworld but I was trying some things out on Midjourney for it and accumulated quite a few useful images but not that applicable to the painting I'm planning. The one below suggested a fleeing figure on the left which triggered the idea for this painting as well as trying to see if I can paint a blue over some of it like in the MJ piece.

Colours used for underpainting: Transparent Oxide Red and Dioxazine Purple.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".