I recently finished this larger outdoor painting, the subject could be argued as more of a still life. The painting took quite a lot of time and preparation. Did it need as much time and preparation? Probably not. Though I am consistantly fascinated in different approaches to get to a final destination.
The painting, Tainted, is of a not so picturesque neighborhood and apartment complex that I was living in not that long ago. It is in a poor neighborhood, and the apartment complex is riddled with issues among them, a forever leaking hose bib or faucet. Instead of fixing the issue, someone just put a container under it to prevent puddles from forming.
To me, this was a charming reminder of my time spent in Italy and Mexico and after almost a year of passing it multiple times a day I decided to give it a go as a subject. For this piece I did a nearly complete graphite drawing on a 22 * 30 inch piece of paper to figure out what size felt natural. While working on the drawing, I was able to make a cradled panel that was the exact size of the drawing. I should say, I have never been a fan of prelimary studies for work. I am filling probably 4-5 sketchbooks a year, in wich I do all manner of drawing and experiementing. Sometimes I may pull ideas from these, but often, I will walk by something around my home for weeks or years before jumping on it. While abroad I walk everywhere to get a feel for where I am scout out spots to paint. Some people take countless photos and drive everywhere. I wish that worked for me but I stick to what feels natural.
This experience, has given me a true appreciation of doing that preliminary work drawing before hand, as I was able to refine the composition, decide what worked and actually edit the scene before me to make a more impactful image. This piece had a lot of challenging linear perspective as well and I was glad to have layed it all out and correct it on paper rather then the panel. I should note also that I generally do not have a hard time with perspective because I draw so much from life, but this was still helpful.
Once I was more or less sure on what I wanted in the piece, bird included… I transferred the drawing onto my panel with transfer paper. This always presents problems, and will almost always need doctoring. I should note, that I prefer a very smooth surface to paint on when it comes to oils, as I find the canvas weave incredibly distracting in a gallery setting. This also means, building the surface up and learning to use medium and different brushes to achieve a brushless look. My oil paintings always come out with little to absolutely no physical texture because of my paint application.
The rest is simple… paint until finished.
Curse, swear, paint, paint some more, then repaint.
I experimented a lot in this painting, with scumbling and glazing on the side walk. There really is no secret to painting once you understand your materials and what you can and cannot do with them. I am generally a proponent of direct painting using virtually no glazing which to my understanding is the more archival way to work. In fact the smartest idea if you are an oil painter would be to actually use no special mediums, just a really nice oil when you are building up layers. How ever I was not planning on getting buried in the weeds on materials because it would wind up being even more long winded and unreadable than this is already.
Some helpful take a ways if you are trying to do a longer more refined still life out of doors.
Pick your subject wisely.
It is hard enough to find a subject to paint that is consistent enough for a one to four hour period of time, never mind a subject that could remain relatively consistent for a month or longer.
This imagery was close to home, I had a bird in the freezer, and in central Arizona we have the privelage of having over three hundred days of sunlight a year. This is obscene. I am spoiled.
Strategize.
I know it sounds like a novel concept but for these kinds of paintings you need to plan. Will the subject be untouched by others for the foreseeable future? Are your tools and materials in an organized fashioned ready to be used? Are you able to get to the same spot at the same time everyday?
These were things I considered before hand. No one ever touched the water bib or bucket, but after weeks of good luck I came home to someone having done the worst modification I have ever seen to exterior plumbing and actually ruined and permanently changed my subject. Thankfully I had the foresight paint that first so it worked in my favor.
I had to be out there at noon to paint every chance I could, and after months the shadow had completely changed as the sun went further down in the south here during the winter.
Commit.
Commit to spending the time. Commit to a schedule. See something through. Almost all of my early pleinair works took days, or weeks to complete. Most were done at night so the light more or less stayed the same, which was absolutely invaluable to help me learn and refine both techniques, tools, and materials.
Draw, paint and then do it again.
Cheers!