Melodie Douglas Art Blog: Works in Progress

More layers of paint as I build up the trees. Added a little more definition to the pathway and tree trunks. The painting is much brighter then this image depicts.

Working on defining the different shapes and adding local color. I love the intensity of oil paint colors.

Adventures in oil painting a new medium for me. A very bright under-painting to start.

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For this painting I've chosen to use birch wood and Golden Open acrylic paints. This is my first foray with the Golden Opens, i'm amazed at how long they stay wet on my palette, I left them sitting out in the open for 3 days and they were still workable although a skin was beginning to form. I doubt that this painting will give me a good feel of how they are to paint with as I am using a glazing technique but I will post a update on them in the future.

Using glazes makes for very slow progress, I am about 10 or so layers into this so far.

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Another painting started, I'm aiming for free and loose at this point, just getting some shapes in.

The under painting is pretty much done. Now I start to refine and add details. My normal technique with acrylics is to use them quite watered down and build up layers. For this painting I am using very little water and bristle brushes, my technique is more of a scrumbling to build up color. To my palette I've added Phthalo Blue (green shade) for the water, Naples Yellow and some Neutral Grays (N2/N5/N4/N7)

Working on a new painting and heading in a different direction. This piece is on canvas, with a bright pink acrylic ground, and a very loose drawing done in burnt umber. The sky is ultra marine with a touch of burnt umber to tone it down a bit. The colors I've used so far are Burn Umber, Ultra Marine Blue, Cad Yellow, Alizarine Crimson and Titanium White. At this point I am just laying in general color, I'm not to worried about getting the right color as I know it will change as I go along. With the quick drying abilities of acrylics it's never a problem to change up colors.

Here Comes The Sun Little Darlin!

I've painted in the greenery between the flowers using various shades of greens, done very abstractly. Final adjustments have been made, the last intense highlights applied and I can call it done. It will now sit in a prominent place for a few weeks where I can see it and decide if it needs more work or not.

Throughout the background I am applying low intensity color by mixing complementary colors, as I come forward I will increase the color intensity. I also changed the composition in the lower right corner.

It's about 7:00 am and the sun is just coming up, part of the background mountain is still in shade with the sun back lighting the row of trees. Everything is still at the refining stage as you can see I tend to move all over the painting, in the bottom left hand corner I have been experimenting with colors for the tulips.

I did this painting a couple years ago in a much smaller size but always thought it would look more impressive as a large painting. I put in a few guide lines using a brush and thinned down paint, then applied loose washes to separate the different horizontal planes.

Sneak Peeks April 12, 2012