Monday, August 23, 2010

MOM DON'T LOOK!!

I mean it mom, don't look at this post until I tell you!

OK, so for everyone else; I've been working on a painting for my mom for a couple weeks now. She recently re-did her living room and asked that I would do a painting to go over the couch using one of the photos she took of some orchids as a reference. I'm stoked! First off, let me tell you, this baby is HUGE! I chose to stretch my own canvas so I could pick whatever size I wanted, being limited only by how large of a canvas will fit into my car. The diagonal of the cargo area of my Pontiac Vibe measures 45 inches, so the canvas is 44 inches tall and 60 inches wide. I could use this thing as a raft one day! THAT BIG! It's incredibly exciting and daunting to tackle this project. the only draw back so far is that it takes forever to get anything done because it's just so darn big. I can't wait to see it hanging up in her living room!


I've been taking progress photos so you can track along with me as I work:

This is the thumb nail for there this project is going.

















After hours of gesso painting and repeated attempts to place the line work, I eventually caved and created a grid, which I then attempted to erase to do the painting.


















Let there be color!


































I'm not sure I like this middle section here. It look more like three pieces placed together rather then the darker green bars layered over the middle section. I wanted it to look more like a plaid by manipulating the transparency of the layers. They just look too disjointed right now.


















Starting to add in more colors and values.


















I'll post more pics when I've gotten some more significant work done on it.

pb.