were a lot of steps that I did not take
pictures of. This is my first time even
trying to show any painting in this way.
By the time this picture was taken, I
had treated the canvas with a plaster
type medium, sanded it down, painted
the initial color, which was a yellow
ochre blended with raw sienna, adding
raw umber in a gradient towards the
bottom. I then painted the mountains in
a translucent purple and the trees in a
translucent green. Between each of
those steps, I had to wait for it to dry.
When it was all dry, I began to draw.
image looks really
distorted because the
camera was not level,
nor was it perfectly
perpendicular to the
surface of the canvas,
which was leaning back
on the easel. If you know
perspective well, you
might notice that the roof
on the building is wrong.
Unfortunately, I didn't
notice until I already
began to paint, which
caused me lots of trouble.
building first and then built up
the plants and garden around it.
than the geisha and the bridge. There
is a little hint of the waterfall and
bushes, but not much detail yet. I've
never done any landscaping, so
planning out a whole elaborate garden
from scratch was a new challenge for
me. I had a lot of work picking out
plants and trees of varying heights and
colors and getting them all balanced in
the painting. You can't see it yet, but
already at this point, I am seeing what
it will look like in color.
I am ready to start painting. In case
you are wondering, I draw everything
out with a white pastel pencil. Pastel is
soft enough to make a good line
without making any little indentions in
the surface. It also erases well. Look
for my lines in the upcoming pictures.
You will be able to see traces of them.
When the paint is dry, I go back with a
brush, paper towel and solvent to wipe
away any remaining lines. Many of the
lines weren't erased until the painting
was completed.
painting. I painted what
I was sure about first
and built the painting around those features. This is a little bit
backwards, since it is normal to paint from back to front. I'm
working in oils though, and the longer drying time gives me plenty
of time to erase any mistakes. Already, I've noticed a problem with
the tree where it overlaps the background trees. They were too
similar in color, and I've begun to paint over it to fix the problem.
Right now everything is just floating, but that will change soon.
painting together and has given an
environment so things aren't floating anymore.
something wrong with the roof. I tried doing a quick fix, but it
didn't work. Now I am doing the longhand version, actually
drawing out the other two walls of the building you can't
see, mapping out the floor, etc. Once I get the peak in the
right place, it helps me to figure out where the corners of
the building should be.
is beginning
to look right!
You can see
trees with
trunks and
branches but
no leaves.
Things are
taking shape!
other side of the painting is much more developed. This is
because I am right handed. I work from left to right to avoid
smearing the paint. All these "bald" trees will soon have hair.
Below, you can see a big ugly white patch. This is because my
original patch wasn't working. When I painted opaquely over the
trees I couldn't paint the translucent mountains and make it look
the same. The white showed through the yellow ochre base and
the yellow ochre showed through the purple. This is what I am now
attempting to recreate.
the right. You can see I added more
bushes to the background to help fill it in.
Use with permission only
