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acrylic on canvas 900mm x 700mm

Finished!

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I can see the finish line now

Last Wednesday my hard disk failed on my eight year old 27" iMac. My new friend Shobhit from eServe did a great job recovering all my data. So this Monday it is back into my normal painting routine with my new 27" Retina iMac. Though I did not have my image up on the screen I did paint the sky, the wheels and refine a few details. A few more details to do, and then the road. This week the job should be done. I just got to get my speed up as this one has taken two months (I think 4-6 weeks would be about right).

For the sky I used a mixture of Ultramarine blue, Cerulean Blue and a dab of Medium Cadmium Red, and Naples Yellow, I wanted a warm sky with pinky tones (this is remind me how to mix it again if needed).

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detail stuff mostly done

I now feel that I can paint motor cars, even cars with dented panels, yea! They appear in most of my photos, they are everywhere. Just need to tackle the wheels, a job for tomorrow then road and sky.

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small alterations ...

.. this week due mainly to being sick with winter cold virus, a little more detailing on building completed including exposed weather boarding on the left ... and now the car ....

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starting with some detail on the left

Have included a close up here to show the process but this is in constant flux as I work out how to do this.  It has taken a week to cover 200mm x 150mm though the left is like a little landscape on its own.

under-painting

I'm trying a different process. Rather than complete one small bit at a time, I have blocked in the whole thing with an acrylic wash. Not water but using acrylic glazing liquid. My thought is it might be a faster process to have most of it worked out, reasonably accurate before I begin the detail process.

a modest dwelling

This slightly odd house is on the periphery of a small town in the Wairarapa, the subject of my next painting. I have made a drawing of it on a 900mm x 700mm canvas and am now wondering where to start. 

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Acrylic on canvas 600mm x 600mm

almost ...

... done, I will have to think about it a bit

Update; since the first posting (monday 1st June) I have repainted the road once and painted the door about five times .... it's done, it's as good as I can do for now.

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today I have been mostly painting a letter box ...

... plus window curtains  (just blocked in at this stage). Yesterday it was brickwork. These things are more challenging then I first estimated, but a little bit at a time. The windows at this stage are just grey monochrome, it was too difficult to paint the subtle colour directly, will add colour later once resolved.

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just over the starting line

I first blocked in the sky, I will smooth out later. I wanted this to be the key tone that everything else hangs off. The left side seemed the trickiest, so that is where I am now, once I get past this my confidence should build. To help with the process I use photoshop layers with different curves so that I can see details in the dark foliage shadow areas, another layer to see the high key tones in the sky. I also use a black and white layer so I can check tones as I go. It also helps to photograph my work in stages to check with the original as I go. That is my evolving process in a nutshell.