Welcome back.
This week we will be continuing with our Grand Canyon painting derived from the photo seen directly below.
When last seen, the painting appeared as it does in the photo directly below.
Since that time I have continued working on the painting. There are actually many changes, some of which may not be readily apparent. There’s good news and bad news here. The bad news is that I accidentally smeared some red paint on the sky and had to repaint some of it for purposes of overall consistency. The good news is that it actually seems a bit enhanced, a bit more dramatic. A happy accident, as Bob Ross would say.
Also changed are the midground buttes and shadows. These changes may not be readily apparent. The changes are incremental, really more of a tweaking of the forms and some of the highlights. The result of these small changes is a more consistent and somewhat more natural scene.
Finally, there is the foreground on the lower left. It is now complete with rocks of a color appropriate to their closeup positioning. The red is more saturated as well as the shadows. The scene is now complete.
The completed painting is seen in the photo directly below.
The entire sequence of this painting is seen in the series of photos directly below, from start to finish.
That’s about it for now, I’ll see you next week with something entirely new.
As always, feel free to post your own work in the comments section of this thread.
Paint me a picture of your thoughts.
Good morning Mr. B2,
Last week Dada commented that this is his favorite of your works thus far and I really have to agree with him. And I can’t even pick out any obvious elements that make this one so distinguishable from your other great works for me. If I could pick one or two it might be the gorgeous contrast of the light and shadowed areas and definetily the vibrant colors. Also, for me, the stratifying lines add a deeper sense of realisism in the image than any other I can recall seeing.
There’s also a clarity in it that reminds me of clear Autumn air when skies are deeper blue and the colors of morphing trees are so rich you can almost taste them :o)
And no, I don’t do weed for breakfast…anymore! LOL!
Just beautiful :o)
Hi, ss! Thanks for your kind comments. I must say it was belpful to have a good photo to start with.
You’re welcome :o)
I use photographs of other people’s work as a basis for what I do sometimes myself, if that’s what the owner of the boat or car wants. So I agree it’s helpful and the quality of the image is important, but I’m talking more about the quality of your finished work. It’s definetily better than any other I’ve seen. I was wondering then, I guess, if doing your series out here in the open each week is maybe also a learning process for you?
Whatever the reason, this one really does show that your work and your talents at producing it are advancing to another level of accomplishment. I think so anyway :o)
Thanks, it has been a learning process. That’s one of the main reasons I do this every week, it keeps me painting. That and being recognized on nearly every street corner.
I saw you in Manhattan, after you recorded Color My World with Chicago! Or was it when I was in Boston for the Kansas concert? ;o)
supersoling, I was back in Washington DC for Veterans Day weekend. I thought these pictures turned out well, and that you might appreciate them.
Hi EJ,
thanks,
I think though that more and more to me images like these represent Washington’s militaristic and exceptionalist “FU” to the rest of the wlorld. In a technical sense the pictures are good and FSM know I have a ton that are similar, but, with apologies, I think that right now our flag and monuments to our military victories are the very last things that we should be projecting.
I know that’s not where you’re coming from in this comment, and please try not to see it as me criticizing you, I’m not, never would.
I’m just arrived though at a very sour and ashamed place regarding my nationality right now.
Take care
I understand completely ss. There is that aspect of those monuments that I can’t ignore. And I do think that the militaristic jingoism and devout nationalism that are such a danger to world peace and security had their seeds planted in the times that those monuments represent.
But I also think that a monument should be like a good poem; the original intent behind it is not so important as what the individual looking at it gets out of it. And it is in that light that I still find hope in what these monuments say to me.
When I look at the WWII memorial I don’t see a testament to the military victory that we achieved, or a statement that we’re all a bunch of badasses not to be fucked with. In January of this year we spoke of men who are special to us, who had a part in that war. When I see that memorial, my thoughts go straight to my grandfather and others of that era who witnessed firsthand the horrors of war, but fought in the (however mistaken) hope that it would be the last great war.
The cement bases of the flagpoles at that memorial bear the words “Americans came to liberate, not to conquer, to restore freedom and to end tyranny.” Those words brought me to tears the first time I read them because in my eyes, they carry the implicit acknowledgment that while we were not there to conquer in that particular war, that is not an intrinsic quality of our nation’s policies. The notion is extremely counter to everything my grandfather believes in, and seeing those words on his memorial makes me very sad.
However, they also carry the weight of implying that such empire building is wrong, and that is more in line with what my grandfather (and I) believe. And so this simple phrase, etched there in stone, represents to me the one thing that I feel the American people must come to grips with and change before it is too late : We do not always do the right thing, even when we know what is right and what is wrong.
I know most people would not get that out of it, but that’s what I see.
I’m not able to put into words adequately what I see with the flags and the Washington Monument in that picture. There was a period of time when just seeing the American flag made my stomach turn because of all the flag waving cretins shoving their false patriotism down my throat. But I’m slowly getting over that, and now I feel that maybe the tide is turning, however slowly, and we can take back the meaning of our own symbols and try to restore some integrity and respect to them.
Very good expression of your feelings about the meaning of the monuments at the time they were erected, & the hopes their meaning will be carried out in the future no matter the times we go through now.
Boran2
The best painting so far. It still surprises me that they are as small as you say, yet present a very large vista.
Now I`ll wait for the surprise of next week.
Thank you, knucklehead.