Reflecting on Bygone Times, Year of Painting

Over on Painting Friends, its Year of Painting time again, so I thought I'd share the whole post with you, so that you can gain an insight into the workings behind this painting :)

Number Seven, Auto Reflections

Personal Goals for this Painting:

Firstly I set some goals for my thumbnail sketches.

These were :

1. do a thumbnail showing the scene as is
2. on the other thumbs, show different crops and ideas
3. Choose which one of these thumbnails to paint.

Choosing (4) Rusty Wreck, the goals for the painting were: try to show a vehicle in a stage of decomposition and by doing so describe the impermanence of life and material objects.

To this aim, I also wanted to incorporate the acrylic technique of painting a ground onto watercolour paper. This means adding a tint of colour and texture before you start painting proper.

So, here's the painting: Reflecting on Bygone Times

What works and what could be improved.

I'm pleased with the overall feel of the painting. By the grasses I should have left more lights, as I did with the sky.

Challenges Faced

The challenge faced for me was incorporating tinting and texture onto the paper before I painted the car.

Share Personal Goals and whether you felt you Met Them

My goals were to make the four thumbs again, pick one to paint, namely Rusty. I wanted to use the acrylic ground technique to see what difference it would make to the overall feel.

Did I manage that? I think so, though I can see that completely tinting paper wouldn't have suited this subject, but it does tie car and shrubs in so they feel at home together. I don't think I should have extended it to where I painted the grasses. I think it dulls the grasses too much.

How I created the Painting.

I created the painting by painting the sky first. When dry, I scumbled a mix of burnt sienna, raw sienna and light red over the rest of the paper. Then I pressed cling film into that so that when dry there would be some texture. After that the shrubs were painted in a loose random style, made of shades of raw sienna, burnt sienna and cadmium yellow pale. The car was painted in cad red and cad yellow pale, with the rust and bullet holes being painted in various strengths of a shadow mix ( ultra and crimson) Grasses were painted in a loose style using a large flat brush, using the same colours as used throughout, with the addition of a making a green from ultra and cad yellow pale.

Size of Painting, Medium, Palette and Brushes.

The painting is on Arches 140 Rough and is 15” x 11”

The medium is pencil for the under drawing and watercolour for the painting.

W&N artists quality paint.

Palette colours used : Raw sienna, burnt sienna, Cad Red., Cad yellow pale, French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, light red.

Brushes: Flat 1”, round 12, rigger 2