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Posts Tagged ‘technique’

A Little More Progress

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , on February 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I thought I  would show a bit more of the large canvas I’m working on at the moment.  As I’ve described in previous posts, it’s a 54″ tall by 84″ wide canvas that has been biding its time for nearly 10 months in my studio, waiting for me to finally give it some life.  Well, it’s beginning to take shape and I can see better its final stages, if things work out as I hope.

I’m always a little hesitant to show these pieces in progress because sometimes they lack the life that the final stages of the process bring.  But even though there is still a lot of depth to be added, this piece is gaining animation quickly.  It’s been interesting seeing how the colors of the fields have changed as other colors are added in the process, some of the reds and oranges that seemed to jump off the canvas modulated in intensity by adding varied shades of green and yellows.

I’ve brought the sky to a certain point where it creates enough ambiance that I can be influenced by it  but is not yet at its final intensity.  I see a certain blue in my mind that will be a challenge to pull off here but at least it is there now, pulling at my mind. 

The same goes for the great black void that is a lake in the center of the canvas.  I see a certain color and depth ahead for this critical part of the composition,  which is the focal point for the whole thing, everything else revolving around and reacting to it.  The overall strength of this painting  is dependent on my ability to recreate the color that I see in my mind for this section.  If I don’t reach that visualized color, what could be a very good painting could become a ho-hum piece.  As a result, my mind is always running through methods of achieving that color even while I am at work on other parts of the painting.

Today should be a pivotal day for the bigger part of the composition, as I finish up this layer of color on the landscape and begin adding what may be the final layer for some parts of it.  The composition should really come together at this point,  just waiting for that color in the lake.

We shall see.

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Final Version? WIP

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , on October 6, 2009| 5 Comments »

Final Version (?) GC Myers 2009Well, here’s what I’ve come up with for the painting that I’ve been working on over the past two weeks.  I added one window, on the central structure (thanks, Brian, for the suggestion) and went with twisting bare trees on the ridge to mirror the road.  I also added a little more light in the central section.

And there it is.  So far.

There is always the possibility that over the next week or so I may change it in some small way, a highlight here or there.  Just little tweaks to fine tune the weight of the piece.  When I say weight I refer to the way I look at the painting as though it were suspended from a center point in the painting and each visual element to either side of that point added weight, causing the painting to lean to the side with more visual weight.  I try to keep the painting centered and balanced on this center point, changing the weight on each side by adding elements or enhancing those that are there to create more visual interest, by which I mean weight.

Thus far, I like this piece a lot.  It has a lot of wallop in the studio with its size, 42″ high by 60″ wide, and its masses of bright red roofs.  The feeling of the piece has evolved over the process.  I originally felt that the focus and feeling of the piece stemmed from the area where the sky met the far ridge.  But the simple addition of one tall window  brought the focus down lower to that structure and changed the complete impact of the piece, giving it a feeling of warmth beyond the warmth of the colors.  Human warmth.

So that is basically how I paint in my additive  or obsessionist style, which is quite different  that my typical pieces which are reductive, which means I add lots of paint in a liquid fashion then pull paint off the surface to reach my desired end.  I may or may not show that in the future.

So this piece will stay with me for a few more weeks in which time, when I am fully satisfied of its completion, it will  be varnished then framed.  I use an archival quality varnish with UV protection to prevent fading from normal light over the coming years.  I usually use a gloss because I like the added brilliance and depth it adds.  The frame comes from my good friend Stephen who has built my frames for about the last twelve years.  He generally uses native poplar which gives a fine grain which beautifully accepts the stain that I apply after receiving the raw frames from him.   I will talk more about framing in a later post.

The final step is applying a title to the painting.  I have a few ideas but am open to suggestions.  No contest this time although there may be another in the near future.

But for now, if you have any ideas, let me know…

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Getting Close Now- Work In Progress

Posted in Neat Stuff, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, Television, tagged , , on October 2, 2009| 6 Comments »

GC Myers 2009 adding BlueWell, this painting, a 42″ by 60″ canvas, is closing in on what may be its final appearance, at least in my head.  I have the sky close to where I see it finishing, the village only needs some highlights here and there  and the landscape is basically set in place.

My next move is to move into the last large area that needs paint- the waterway and the land on either side of it.  I first go in with a manganese blue, a rich color that I can play off as I move along.  I often use blue for water even though it seldom appears that way in nature.  There seems to be a childish element that allows us to imagine or see blue as water.  For me, it goes back to how the color plays off the other colors.  The harmony produced is more important to me.  I also start adding color to the bridge at this point, although I see it changing in color over the rest of the process.

GC Myers 2009 Nearing the Finish LineFrom there it’s on to putting some color into the lower segment of landscape around the waterway and the structures.  I start with a dark Hunter green which actually darkens this space with a real earthy almost black green tone.  I like the way this sets everything off but am feeling it’s a little too deep and dark, almost flat in dimension.  I think that I probably lighten this soon but I first transition back into the water where I start laying in a lighter blue over the darker manganese underneath.  There is a bit of violet mixed with the blue I’m using which warms the blue just a bit.  I feel like I’m close to where I want this to be at this point but there is still a little work ahead, especially on the water and the bridge.

I start by lightening the bridge so that it has more contrast against the blue of the water.  I want contrast but not so much that the eye settles there.  I next begin adding a little depth in the green of the landscape with a mix of cadmium orange and yellow, once more put on with a light, dryish brush.  The  technique with the brush is as though I’m dusting something off the canvas with short, quick strokes, leaving only a residual of pigment.  This little bit of color atop the green makes a huge difference and I take this same color and technique into the water, really lightening the color so that it has a violet-slatey color, much less blue than it started.  Here’s where I am:

DSC_0106 smallSo I’m near the end and I really like the feel so far with this painting- but…  There’s always a but.

But I really feel it needs one more element beyond the village to bring it all together.  A real object of focus.  Like the tree or trees I mentioned in yesterday’s update.  Or I could take one of the larger, centrally located structures and put even more highlight, more brightness on it.

I’m leaning toward the tree but this is the part of the process where the painting sits for a while in the studio and I look at it over the next several days.  I’m consciously weighing all the elements in the painting to see if there is balance in the structure.  Does it hold together as a composition and do all the elements and lines make sense, not make me stop and wonder why this is here or that is over there?  As it stands, does it convey a wholly realized emotional feeling?  Lots of questions.

So, I’m at a terminus and just have to put in some mind time.  Soon it will be done…

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Update #4- Work In Progress

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on October 1, 2009| 2 Comments »

GC Myers 2009 Taking ShapeI am now into the part of my process where things happen much quicker and all the pieces fall into place.  I first proceed by moving in with a combination of white paint, unbleached titanium, along with some deep cadmium yellow, painting the walls of the structures.  This really brings light to the surface and opens up the whole surface.  In painting these walls I generally highlight one side of each structure which gives the appearance of that side receiving light and the other being in shade.  I don’t necessarily have this representation of light completely accurate.  I’ve said before that I am more concerned with how the whole thing translate more than being completely true to nature.

GC Myers 2009 White in PlaceTo further illustrate my point, if you look at this second photo with all of the white in place, you’ll notice that the highlighted side of each structure is facing the center of the painting.  Much like my roofs, I am trying to bring the eye to the center of the painting.  I hope I am not jading how people will look at my work but in my mind, this manipulation of natural light translates in my brain as being natural, having a sense of rightness.

GC Myers 2009 Brightening the SkyNow I’m moving  along faster and decisions are made quickly.  I immediately jump from the village to the sky and start layering in different shades of yellows and whites, trying to locate where my light focus will lay.  Usually in a piece like this, one with a central cradle or saddle, I will have the light intensity grow from the low point.  Such is the case with  this piece.  It’s at this point that I begin to also start to re-darken the far edges of the sky, inserting more red and also a few selected strokes of a light violet.

GC Myers 2009 DetailIn this detail you can see these violet strokes.  In the final version of the painting these strokes may barely show but even the smallest bit that does show through brings me a real sense of delight when I look at the sky of the painting.  This tiny detail, I feel, brings a fullness or richness to the whole piece.  I can’t fully explain this but I know I feel better when it’s there when I’m painting in this obsessionist manner.

GC Myers 2009 Building Up LandscapeSo I continue in the sky adding more and more layers of lighter and lighter color.  As you can see, the center is starting to glow a bit.  When I am close to where I want the final sky to be, I move to the edge and put on a thin transparent layer of  a nickel azo gold color, burnishing it so that it blends into the rest of the sky but darkens the edges.  When I’m somewhat satisfied ( I don’t have to be completely satisfied at this point- there is room to re-enter at a later point in the process), I begin to ponder how to bring the landscape alive with color.  I want it to maintain some darkness, to give a contrast to the sky and make it pop with light, but I still want a certain vividness.  I’m also trying to create more distance into the picture.  I have found that this creation of distance often dictates how effective my paintings will be.  In this painting I have chosen an orangish blend of color for the farthest layer and a deeper red for the one before it.  Both are deep and dark in color and show well under the brightest part of the sky above.

So, I stand back and look at this thing.  I think I’m ready to work on the waterway and the bridge next, starting to feel what I may need to do incorporate these elements smoothly into the rest of the composition.  I first add a light layer of the red oxide to the water surface.  It probably won’t show through much but what does will have a unifying effect with the rest of the painting.  I’m starting to look at the road on both sides of the waterway and how it rises to the horizon in a very viney, limb-like way. GC Myers 2009Wanting to mirror this effect, I’m beginning to think that I may use some bare, bony trees on the top ridge, dark silhouettes against the skylight.  This would be an expansion of an idea I used in this piece that I finished a few weeks back, a much smaller 12″ square piece.  It’s a piece that I like a lot and feel that the trees could be really dynamic in the sky of this larger piece.

But that’s something I will have to debate in my head before I jump in too deeply.  Decisions at this point in a painting can have a major influence on the final feel of a piece and shouldn’t be rushed.  But, you never know.

To be continued…

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Update #3- Work In Progress

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , on September 30, 2009| 6 Comments »

GC Myers 2009 Buildiing UpI’m at a point with this work in progress, a 42″ by 60″ canvas, where I have basically finished the underpainting which is the process of blocking in the composition.  The next step for me is to start building up color throughout the piece, developing more depth from all the elements.  In this case, I start by using a light application, again almost drybrush, of a yellowish paint.  for this piece I’m using a yellow oxide.

The thinly applied yellow allows me to see dimension yet still lets the darkness of the base’s black and the red of the underpainting show through.  This is something that I feel is crucial to the feeling I’m trying to achieve.  Again, I could easily go through and simply paint each structure with one pure color and save a ton of time but it would lose the effect I desire.  Besides, it gives me more time to consider each subsequent move.

Now comes some red.  I start with a few cross-strokes of a crimson in the sky then start applying some yellow strokes as well, just to start to give light the sky.  I also start to lighten the path in all parts of the painting just to give some more depth.  At this point, I’m also pondering if I should start working a bit on the waterway as it is such a large and crucial element in the lower half of the painting and it’s darkness at this point might alter how I proceed with other elements.  After some thought, I decide against working on the waterway and move on to the roofs of the structures.

GC Myers 2009 Adding the Red RoofsAgain, I use a crimson red that is a bit darker which gives me a bit of leeway so that I can lighten roofs later as I see the need.  I’m beginning to see more and more light in the piece at this point and can see areas where I want to concentrate in some of the next steps in the process.  For instance, sides of the houses that will be a sort of focal points through the piece.  I’m reminded also at this juncture of how the roofs of the village act as little pointers or arrows that move the eye upward in the picture.  I do this with other elements as well, in may of  my paintings, everything pushing the eye toward the center of the painting.  It didn’t start as a conscious effort but I became aware that I was doing this years ago and have been doing this subconsciously, albeit with an awareness,  for years.

I was a little apprehensive in showing how I paint in this style, afraid that it might take away some of the mystique of the final paintings, make it seem that  the work was a pure product of process.  But taking the time to write down how I proceed makes me realize that while there is a process it is the decisions that are made during the process that make it either work or not work.  Intuition and a constant visual weighing of elements play huge roles in this decision making, which makes each piece unique beyond the process.  These are things that I take for granted in my day to day existence in the studio, parts of the process that are below the surface and operating on a subconscious level but are perhaps the most important aspects of the process.

So, I’m on to the next step.  Stay tuned…

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Update #1- Work In Progress

Posted in Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , on September 28, 2009| 2 Comments »

GC Myers 2009 UnderpaintingSo I’ve been working on this large painting, a 42″ by 60″ canvas, as I noted in Saturday’s post.  When I last wrote I had just blocked in the lower parts of both sides and had the bridge just sort of sitting alone in the middle.  Since then I have continued with the underpainting in the red oxide that I prefer to use.  Most of this is applied in an almost dry brush way, where I put my brush into paint then swab a lot of it off before applying it to the canvas.  It leaves a lighter layer of paint, allowing the black underneath come through.  It takes a bit longer but it suits the way I see the thing building and growing.

It also takes a lot more time than one might suspect in growing the village from the start, especially in a way that makes it feel organic and not just thrown together.  Each new element informs the next and there is a bit of time spent just looking at each piece to make sure that it plays off the form below and beside it.  This is even more crucial in such a large canvas because I’m trying to maintain a continuity of form throughout the whole piece so elements in different areas of the canvas still relate to one another.

As the village grows upward I begin to try to decide how I want it to transition into either a background or sky or if I want to simply have the structure fill the entire picture plane.  I decide here that I want to have sky so I start to think of how I will have the structures end near the top of the canvas.  As I’ve been looking here I have chosen to have the village move into a somewhat empty landscape and that  into the sky.  I want to create a saddle-like structure with the landscape so that the light I create in the sky will be cradled by the landscape below.  I often do this in my work and I think it has to do with this cradling effect holding the light in a way that brings the eye to the lowest point, creating a focal point off of which the rest of the painting plays.  It’s a funny feeling writing about this because when I’m making these decisions, it’s very seldom near the front of my mind.  They’re just done in stride, instinctually,  as I’m taking in what I’m seeing.

GC Myers Underpainting DetailI’m also at a point in the canvas where I have a bit of space at the lower center of the piece, around the bridge and banks of the waterway.  I start to fill in this area, adding detail although it’s not real fine detail.  I want this space to have interest and detail but not so much that it becomes the sole focus of the work.  I see the light that I will create where the sky meets the landscape in this painting as the more important area of focus, conveying more of the feeling that I’m hoping will emerge.

So I keep working upward and as I near where I feel I want to stop the structures I begin to start get a feel for how the landscape itself will continue.  Here’s where I am at this point and where I’ll leave it for now.

GC Myers 2009 Underpainting

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Endless Possibility

Posted in Painting, Technique/History, tagged on February 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Endless PossibilityI talked with an old friend the other day who asked  about my paintings, specifically if there were works that I considered better than others.  

I’m asked this quite often, particularly at shows where the questioner might be trying to get some insight into what I think are the real treasures there.

I explained to my friend that I had a common interest in every piece I create and that I treat every painting, from the very smallest to the largest, with the same care and thought.  You see, I view every piece as a performance, much like a musician or a dancer.  To me, if I’m painting, I’m performing.  I don’t have sketches or studies.  Even if I’m at work on a small piece that that may well be the inspiration for a larger piece at some point, that smaller piece is treated as the primary painting.

Like any discipline, this creates muscle memory.  It’s like a performer treating a rehearsal as an actual performance.

This being the case, each piece is equal at some level.  One of my goals is to create work that is equal in performance and power regardless of size.  

However, the variable in this is that my technique is changing and adjusting day to day.  For instance, the piece above, Endless Possibility, is from a few years ago and one that stands out in my head.  It is performed in a composition that is very familiar to me, like a musician playing one of their favorite songs.  But because of variables such as my evolving technique, changes in materials, environmental factors (sometimes warmth and humidity play a significant part in the final product) and other such things, this piece, like most others,  is absolutely unique.  I would be hard-pressed to replicate this.  Probably couldn’t.  There are colors and textures that are unique in this piece because of the variables I’ve mentioned.  

That’s the goal for each piece: to emphasize the unique quality of that piece regardless of its size.  To unleash the the strength that is latent in each piece.

I guess there is endless possibility in that…

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Foundation

Posted in Painting, Technique/History, tagged , , on October 13, 2008| 2 Comments »

My head’s been swirling lately with things I thought I would never have to know, things that I never could imagine would impact my life-  derivatives, Credit Default Swaps, leveraging and deleveraging, etc.  There seems to be a huge disconnect between how the media generally portrays what this financial crisis really entails and how the people who are embroiled in it lay it out.  The story from the guys who know is much scarier than what the media or politicos feed us.  We’ve been living in a house of cards for much too long and there will be a change coming.  A return to building and living on a real foundation…

That being said, I thought I would talk briefly how I prepare my surfaces for paint, how I build my foundation.  Whether I am using paper, masonite or canvas ( the canvas above is 24″ X 48″), I start in the same way by laying down layers of gesso.  I splatter, trowel, brush, knife and push with my fingers, anything to create a deep and interesting texture.  The whole idea behind this is to create a surface that has an interesting and abstractly sculptural feel.  Basically, it has visual interest before I even lay down my first brush of paint.  I find that this forms a textural depth in the painting, one that may not register immediately but ultimately gives the piece life .

I also find that this textured surface works best when completely chaotic and undirected.  Trying to create a pattern underneath that drives the piece above more often than not comes off as contrived and clumsy.  It becomes too much a product of thought, losing all sense of natural grace, which is what I think the surface prep adds to a painting.

I will show how the canvas shown turns out in the next month or so…

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