Log Bridge, 2006
oil on canvas board
I started this painting on a canvas board, a hard board with a primed canvas surface that is perfect for hard brushwork. It doesn't give like a stretched canvas and can take a harder scrubbing I like to use sometimes. I sketched with paint first to work out the composition.
Next I worked on getting a basic feel of the image, laying in thin colors and making decisions about how to get what I wanted done. Sometimes this stage can be surprising, as it takes on a life of its own.
I worked in some dark lines to the work, something like I often do when working in oil pastels, knowing that I will be covering them in the process later. It seems to satisfy my need for a concrete sense of weight to my forms.
I worked on the background next and moved to the foreground rocks as well. Both of those areas frame the creek, which I knew would be done later. I liked the rocks in the front, and barely changed them after this stage, though the rest of it took a lot more work.
I worked on the deepest areas next, in the upper left, then the logs. I was working around the water the whole time, thinking about what I would do with it.
Next I worked on the water and the far side of the creek. The reflections are sometimes tricky so I spent a bit of time working with them and changing them to try a few different things.
I kept messing with the water and reflections until I made a mess. Then I ended up putting a good bit of lighter colors in to bring the water up to where it was more of a focal point, like it looked to me when I saw this spot. I tinkered with the foreground rocks too.
Lastly I finished the water and its reflections, the movement and rocks in the creek. Overall, I was very happy with the rich colors I was able to bring out in the piece, as well as that wet, foggy feeling of a mountain stream.
