Update from the Cave pt. III

Painting. Finally. 

To be honest I was a little shy with the paint at first. I did all this sculpting and prep stuff and then I thought "I don't know where to start."

So I just started.

I started with some semi transparent highlights. 

I really wanted to do a proper grisaille style painting. For that, typically you leave the shadow areas a little warmer by the letting that bright orange brown color of the underpainting show through. 

I got to a point where I just needed to paint it the way that felt natural and not worry too much about the graissaile technique. I'll focus on doing that better on a future painting. 

There's a lot going on on this painting so I had to resolve to just take it one area at a time. 

Starting with that big blobby shape (upper left) which I have been thinking of as the "primordial head."

The plan is to finish the big values and shapes on everything, area by area. Then do another pass for details and texture. 

Here's a current picture of how the painting looks right now.

I'm almost finished laying in the basic fabric shapes. 

I'll revisit the general shape of the primordial head again before the details and textures. 

I started blocking in the darkest area behind the primordial head.

At Some point I'll finish the cave and do a little landscape in the opening of the cave. I'll probably do that in between the big value pass and the detail pass. When I'll probably want a break from looking at the same thing.

Here's what the set up looks like

You can see the corner of my pallet at the very bottom left. I have a big bucket of dirty water and a big bucket of clean water, my mediums and paints. 

Since this is a "vacation set up," away from where I normally paint, I have a bucket of brushes and paint, and other tools I use that I can just toss stuff in when I'm done with it. 

I have my old rickety easel with the painting on it. Some paper towels.

I keep my computer open next to the canvas. so I can pull up any of the reference photos I've taken. Either of the human model or of the sculpture or whatever I need.

Next to that I have the clay model set up. so If I'm looking at the reference photos and still not getting it, I can stick my face right up close to the 3D objects and study it.

Then I've got my sketchbook near by in case I get an idea or want to see if there's any other ideas from the old sketches.

I have a glue gun on the ground just because I didn't put it away. 

Anyway.

There was some anxiety about putting so much effort and time into all this work that wasn't painting. Especially with a deadline looming.

But this is proving to be a very convenient way to paint. 

There's always hang ups with paintings. Especially painting weird abstract forms and trying to make them look like they exist. 

When I'm painting from imagination there is always a fussy period where I don't understand how things should look. My solution for was always just paint through it. 

With this one I feel like I've done that same process but I fussed around with it in a different way first. 

And now when there's a hang up, I have all these references that I can go to. I don't feel lost. I feel like I can just paint. And when in doubt, look at the reference.

Happy Jan 5th Everybody

I had Dinner with friend last night. I've been friends with her since we were little kids. We reminisced about the town we grew up in and the people who live there. 

I told her about how I dreaded going to Jesse Baxter's back yard because Kirk-Jesse's dad- would always put us to work moving heavy stuff around in his workshop. 

20 years later when I was visiting from college I went to see Jesse. We went to say hi to Kirk in the backyard and he put us to work moving heavy stuff. 

Kirk had the warmest smile and the hardiest laugh I’ve ever heard.

I told her about that and she told me about her friend Emily's dad. On their sixth grade camping trip Emily's dad made all these nice little song books for everyone to sing around the campfire. 

The books all got thrown into the fire by thoughtless sixth graders or by adults who didn't know what to do with them when the camping trip ended. 

When she was back in town visiting recently, she ran into Emily's family at Wal-Mart and said hi to them and caught up.

The dad who made the songbooks has dimentia now. He said “nice to meet you," after they talked for a while. She told me how it broke her heart to see him like that. 

The Led Zeppelin book I read bled into my YouTube algorithm. 

I was watching their performance of "Stairway to Heaven" from "the Song Remains the Same." 

After the line “...and the forests will echo with laughter,” Robert Plant goes, “does anybody remember laughter?” 

And the way he says it so funny to me. I can't get it out of my head. It's just looping over and over.

Here's the clip. He says it around 4:10. I can find it with my eye shut at this point because I've gone back and watched it so many times for a giggle.

If I am staring off into dead air just know that I'm thinking about Robert Plant going “does anybody remember laughter?”

Have fun

Goodnight Sweeties