Thursday, January 29, 2009

Today's Painting


My artist buddy, Leo came up today and we painted together in my new studio space. He did Watercolors and I did Acrylics ( shown here - 12"x16" ) from a photo reference I'd had. I think I'll title this, "FOREST RAYS". Last week, I hung a display at a local hospital ( 20 pieces ) and 2 have already sold, so I think I'll use this one to take up one of the missing spaces.

My original intent was to underpaint a portion of this with Acrylics, then lay Oils over the top. Once I got rolling, however, it just felt right to keep going with the Acrylics. At least now I won't have to wait and let it dry before hanging it.

10 comments:

Mikes1024 said...

Hi Wilson this is beautiful...almost a spiritual feel to it. The light coming through the trees is so striking.

Wilson said...

Well, I was looking through some photos this morning trying to get an idea of something to paint and this caught my eye. The actual photo had several more background trees in it and I took the "liberty" of adding the ferns in the foreground. Not a blatant copy of the picture, but definitely inspired by it. ( and that's all that matters anyway, right? ) Moments ago, I just put a nice frame on it and it does look pretty good. Funny how "presentation is EVERYTHING"!!
Thanks for the comments!

Anonymous said...

This is yet another beautiful piece of work Wilson. Mike is right about the spiritual feeling of the painting. It's very uplifting!

Dawn

Wilson said...

Thanks, Dawn. Actually, one of my favorite things to paint are skies that feature clouds with a "silver lining" and rays bursting through.
Not necessarily for the spiritual effect, but just because they're so beautiful. I never tire of rendering different types of skies.

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean. I love to paint the sky...sometimes it doesn't turn out the way I want it to but it usually works. How do you add those rays of light without mistakes? I'd be afraid to botch my whole painting.

Dawn

Wilson said...

With Acrylic, it IS a little trickier. I brush a little Glazing Medium right on the canvas to facilitate the application and aid in the "transparency". I also use some medium and white ( thin enough to be translucent ) for the actual rays. If you do something you DON'T like, you have to wipe it away immediately with a damp towel. Also, you can use a clean, dry brush to gently stroke the rays once applied which thins the paint layer down, yielding a better transparent effect.
The same approach in Oils is much easier. You just need to let the painting dry completely first.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip!!! :)

Nic said...

Ooohhhh, I like this!! It's funny you were working on this when you were...I just finished a big painting a few days ago with sun rays coming through some trees. It's from a photo I took at Silver Falls last year.
Maybe Bill's up there giving us inspiration!

Wilson said...

That could be. I've always said,....."Who knows where inspiration comes from? Sometimes it just walks up to your stoop and knocks on the door". lol

Bhavna said...

This painting is very nice. I love it!