"In The Arroyo"
22" X 28" Oil on CanvasI was heading to take reference shots of the Colorado St bridge at the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena. Along the way the path went by these nice sycamore trees casting some nice shadows under the dense canopy. I've been trying to paint more sycamore trees so I decided to paint this scene....shadows, sycamores...win/win. Fun painting to do and full of small challenges along the way. This is a busy painting and one I would have stayed away from painting a couple of years ago. I'm feeling more confident with these types of scenes and am starting to enjoy their challenges. The background foliage is mostly just suggested work and after the initial colors are blocked in it becomes just a matter of suggesting leaves and shadows with bits of color notes. In the end it looks more than it really is...all a matter of suggestion which goes a long way in painting. Below are two images of the early stages of this painting .
Above you can see the background "tree" colors blocked in and at this stage I was starting to add "leaf" detail. Just blocking in the underlying background colors fills up the canvas pretty quick. I did this stage before going to bed and thenit overnight tacking up so in the morning I came back to it and just starting dabbing in the "leaves" and edges of the blocked in colors.
In the upper image you can see more of the background suggested color nots are in and I'm moving on to blocking in the dried leafy trail floor. Once these colors were in I went back over them scumbling with a worn brush and knife adding detail to that area. After a while I just jumped around the canvas dialing it all in until it looked and felt finished....and that's it.
10 comments:
Ron,
This is another amazing painting ... I thought it was a photo at first. I really enjoyed your step by step too...
Just fabulous!! You're really on a roll!
Hi Marian,
Glad you like this one. I had so much fun painting this...except the beginning...got a little tedious due to it's size. These large ones do suck up some time to get going but once they do things pick up and you can't wait to finish.
I would have taken more pics but I didn't think of it until after I was into it and then kept forgetting, haha. Thanks for the nice comments...you're doing some really nice work too! Love those houses!
So realistic. Thanks for sharing your steps.
You're welcome Pam. Thanks for taking a look at the painting and posting your feedback. I appreciate it.
I've always loved your work (although not commented) and this one takes one's breath away! Just beautiful! It's amazing how the background says so much painted so simply. Less IS more sometimes!
Hi Shelley,
Thanks a lot for the comments. It took me a while to figure out how to do a complex background and it was all just a matter of keeping it simple, working in layers with just small color notes suggesting the details. It always looks like so much more was going on there. Glad you got something out of this painting Shelley.
Great painting Ron!
You remember me Fortunate Ornaghi. You can see this image of this little well-known Italian painter.
http://www.artpostgallery.com/g-041508/Website-Update-3-08011---Ornaghi---Fall-Forest.jpg
Thanks.
Frank (Italy)
sorry for link above,
try this http://www.artpostgallery.com/traditional.html#Anchor-Fortunato-30198
Best Regards!
This is really lovely. It looks real, but it also has a wonderful feeling to it. What hit me first was the wonderful sense of depth, it pulls the eye right in. The one just below this one also has a wonderful sense of depth. Congratulations!
Hi Dianne,
Thanks a lot for the comments. I'm glad the depth in this painting works as well as it does. Being a scene under trees, and with a busy tree blocked background, it was very much an effort to add any depth at all. Thanks again.
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