Step 3, Copy of Ingres- final underpainting

The underpainting of the Ingres portrait is finally done. This took much longer than I thought it would take, but it was critical to get this step completed in an even level of finish. There is now a full layer of paint on his face. The lighter areas have been painted with more opaque tones, with a lot of white in them. The shadow areas stay very transparent. You could stop at this point and have a nice warm portrait painting, but I'm diving into the color stage next. Of course, I have no idea what I am doing.

Mulberry Farmhouse, Easton, Maryland

The scene is an old abandoned farmhouse in Easton, Maryland. The house is rotting away quickly, I poked around upstairs and the ceiling was caving in from water damage. This is the largest painting I have ever done outside, 18" x 24". I typically do paintings half this size, so this was a new experience for me. I had to paint very fast and loose to get it covered in the few hours that the morning light was available. You can see that it barely fits on my easel. The photo shows how far the sun had changed since I began to paint it earlier in the morning. Just as soon as I finished the last stroke, my relatives showed up from Long Island, New York. I hadn't seen them in many years and we had a nice picnic lunch right on the front lawn of this eerie old spot.

Step 2, Copy of Ingres

Here's the second step of the portrait I am copying by the artist Ingres. This completes the first layer of underpainting. The whole face has been painted in a transparent layer of brown tones. Notice that just the shadow areas have been painted so far. The lighter areas will be painted next using much brighter paint. (Similar to his shirt collar). But the painting will stay in this monochrome tone for the next step. Also notice that the shadow areas of his face are not very dark. Compare the face to the jacket, see how much darker that is ? This is intentional, so the final layers of paint on the face can be built up to rich, colorful tones. This is the way Ingres would have created a portrait, there are many nice examples of his studies and unfinished paintings which are helpful tools to learn from.

Work in progress, copy of Ingres

Okay, so this is not a plein air painting. But it is a piece I am currently working on. This is a copy of an old masters painting, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. He is a master of the technique of painting. I'm merely doing this as a lesson to learn the craft of this style called indirect painting. Far removed from the quickness of a plein air sketch, this piece is crafted slowly in many layers. What you see here is the third stage of the painting. Everything is done in warm brown tones at this point as I am slowly modelling the facial tones. You can see the right side of the face is further along. Color will be added in transparent glazes to build up the subtleties of the skin tones. I'll try to post it as it develops, but this is going to take a long time.

Shark Harbor

This spot is far across the island, took about 90 minutes by off-road vehicle to get there. What was so intriguing to paint was the different rows of hills on the coast. Each one steps back in a lighter, hazier color. We had been warned about roaming buffalo out here which can bother the tourists. Apparently 14 buffalo were brought out here in 1927 to film a movie, and the herd has grown into the hundreds over the years. We did see a few on the trip back to town, but they stayed clear of us strange artists. If you click on the enlarged version, you'll see black spots all along the bottom of the painting. That is sand from the beach which got on the painting when I dropped it face first into the sand. Luckily, if you let the painting dry, you can rub off most of it.

Catalina Pier

The famous Green pier in Avalon on Catalina Island. Sure everybody paints this icon but I had to give it a shot myself. That bright aqua green on the buildings is the signature color on the island. In fact someone is painting that green somewhere everyday. As I was painting, the crew came by and repainted the hand rails near me. One of the hardest things with a scene like this is trying to paint while boats come and go. There must have been 20 boats that would dock for a bit and then leave. I opted to leave them out. That beautiful purple on the horizon is actually Los Angeles smog. For all the bad rap it gets, it sure makes a colorful sky.

Harbor Haze

My first painting in Catalina. We had just arrived by ferry to Catalina Island, and we're anxious to get out and paint. After a short stroll along the harbor I turned back to see this scene. The late afternoon sun was creating a yellow haze over the town of Avalon. Little did I know as I was painting this, I was coming down with a bad case of food poisoning. I had lunch at an outdoor sandwich shop, which had mayo on it sitting out in the hot sun. Shortly after I finished the sketch, I couldn't even stand up. I was out sick for the next three days. What a way to start a painting trip.