HOW I WORK
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I am always sketching ideas in my notebooks and sketchbooks. My ideas come from
looking at other art, especially old masters, both painters and graphic artists, from looking at
nature, reading, and mostly from my own Imagination. Drawing on these things I do
sketches like these here which are the seeds of my paintings. Sometimes I sit down to
deliberately meditate on ideas and draw them, and other times they just occur to me while
I’m doing something else and I quickly jot down a sketch. The sketches below were done in
my sketchbook and were the first steps of some of the paintings you see on my website.
Next I enlarge the rough sketch and add detail as seen below. If necessary I do research to
find reference material. For "The New Guy", seen below, I used both the Web and the
library to find pictures of Mariachi clothing, drums, violins, and day of the dead imagery,
among other things. I also found reference material in my own art book collection.
Sometimes I do one or two or several
color studies. I do these if I'm very
uncertain about the colors and/or the
values in the painting. These studies are
small; 8 x 10 inches at the largest. I can
change colors and values in these in
seconds wheras in a final painting it
could take hours or days to make such
changes. To the right is one of 2 color
studies I did for Return of the Ark. When
I've worked out enough of the
uncertanties in the drawing and color
sketches if i do them, I'm ready to start
work on the final painting. Below are the
steps I took in doing The Moonlighter.
How I Work 2
The Order of Things
In the example above, The
Moonlighter, I painted
everywhere at once, building the
whole painting up gradually.
Sometimes, as in this example,
Salsa Crabs, there are steps to
the painting that have to be done
in a certain order. Here I first
painted the background, which
were comprised of the
gradations of the sky, the water
and the beach.
Next I painted the white lines
which indicated the waves
meeting the beach. Then I
positioned the drawing of my
main subject matter, the crabs,
where I wanted it and taped one
side down. I put the transfer
paper underneath and traced the
drawing down.
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Then I painted the crabs in.
Later I painted some clouds and
trees. The reason for following
these steps and the point of this
example, is that to paint the
gradations of the water and the
beach around the crabs would
have been extremely difficult
and tedious. Painting the crabs
on top of these gradations was
much easier.
Drawing
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The final drawing that I transfer to the
painting surface, such as the one
seen above for The New Guy, is the
most difficult part of the whole
painting process for me. Unlike the
long hours of painting when I often
listen to books on tape or the radio,
this stage of the process requires my
full attention. I make many
adjustments to the placement of the
various elements in the composition.
Sometimes if the perspective is
tricky, it is difficult to draw without
reference. I made the model at right
to help me draw the foreshortening
of the figures for a painting I am
presently working on. I also made a
clay model for the man's head in the
lower left corner of Shooting Star
and the figures in Money Fields.
How I Work 3
The example below shows in detail the steps I took for a more complicated and difficult
painting: After Hours.
1. This painting began with a
pen and ink drawing I did
shortly after graduating from
high school more than 20 years
ago. I rediscovered it in my files
and decided it might make a
good painting.
2. To see if it really would make
a good painting I did this sketch
that included the background. I
decided that the setting for the
skier would be Devil's Castle,
an area at Alta, in Utah, and I
used the sketch to figure out the
composition. First I drew with a
pencil and then went over it with
pen. Before drawing I decided
that I would try having the main
light source coming from the
lower right. This is called
bottom lighting and it adds a
theatrical and dramatic effect.
The original pen and ink
drawing above used the more
typical top lighting. Since I liked
what I saw in the sketch, I
decided to go forward and do
the painting.
3. For reasons mentioned
above I felt it would be
necessary to do this small
(4"x7") color study for this
painting. Originally I painted the
sky with a blue gradation,
similar to Babe in the Woods
(click here to see Babe in the
Woods) but didn't like it so I
changed it to flat black. Most
importantly I determined which
colors to use for the snow. I
wasn't able to visualize the
colors of the snow under these
lighting conditions clearly
without this sketch. Having
chosen these colors I was able
to pre-mix the colors for the
snow in the painting which was
very helpful. I had planned to
have the main light source
come from the lower right and
planned it would be warm -
tones of yellow or orange - and
that there would be a secondary
light source from the moon that
would be cool. This secondary
light source coming from behind
is called "rim lighting" and is
frequently used in
cinematography.
4. Most of my paintings,
including this one, involve a trip
to the library for reference. I
used many editions of Powder
magazine for references of
snow flying up from the skier.
5. Next I photocopied the color
study up to the final size of the
painting: 18" x 24". I
photocopied onto 11" x 17"
sheets which I then taped
together.
6. I also photocopied a photo of
Devil's Castle that I took from
the Sugarloaf chairlift in March
2005. This was a big snow year
so the rocks were covered more
than usual and there were nice
shadows on the snow which I
liked. These were then
transferred down to my painting
surface. I did three sizes so I
could decide later which
worked best.
7. I then enlarged the original
pen and ink drawing with the
photocopier in three slightly
different sizes for comparison.
8. I began mixing the acrylic
paint I would use for the final
painting. I used a palette knife
to mix the paint on the palette
paper (lower left). The palette
paper has a wax-like surface so
the paint doesn't soak into it
and it's easy to mix on. I used
the color study as a reference to
get the color I needed. To
match the colors I held the
palette knife with paint on it
directly over the color study.
Once I had the correct color I
moved it into the sealable
palette (upper right)
Here are the final colors for the
snow in the painting. Other
colors such as the red of the
flowers and browns of the rocks
didn't require pre-mixing and
were put in other palettes. The
sealable palette has an air tight
lid not shown here. I worked
from this palette and several
others until I finished the
painting a week and a half later.
With an ammonia preservate,
paints remain usable for two
months or more in these
palettes.
9. Next I transferred the line of
the hill down onto my final
painting surface - which is
tempered hardboard painted
with 3 layers of gesso. The
gesso was rolled on with a
sponge paint roller and then
sanded. I also decided which
size I liked best for the
mountains in the background
and transferred that down using
graphite transfer paper.
10. The first thing I painted was
the sky. Then I had black and
white on the painting which
gave me good reference for the
values (lights and darks) for the
rest of the painting. Next I
started painting the rocks of the
mountain. I decided to move the
hill down about half an inch
which is why you see 2 lines
there in this picture.
11. I moved from my table to
my easel to paint the snow.
Working at the easel allowed
me to stand back and get a
broader perspective. I painted
with my pre-mixed paints
shown above using my color
study as reference. I used a
long handled bristle brush and
stood back while I painted.
Later I decided that the hill
looked too much like a round
ball so I straightened out the
contour a little.
12. I decided which size of
skeleton to use and where
exactly I wanted to place it. I
taped the photo copy down on
the right, put the graphite
transfer paper underneath the
photo copy and traced over the
lines with a hard (5H) pencil. I
was back at the table for this
step.
I find this brand of transfer
paper works very well. It is
produced by Loew-Cornell. It
creates dark lines that erase
easily. It also comes in white
which is useful when
transferring a drawing to a dark
surface.
13. I began painting the
skeleton. I was basically just
drawing with black paint while
imagining a light coming from
the lower right.
14. I continued painting the
skeleton, adding the lights and
the red wreath and ribbons. I
taped my drawing to the
painting as reference for the
flowers.
15. I taped tracing paper over
the painting to work on the ski
tracks. I used ski photos as
reference for the tracks
including Howie Garber's "Wish
You Were Here" - a beautiful
card seen to the left which
shows ski tracks coming down
Cardiac Bowl in the Wasatch
Mountains. 16. I began painting
the ski track and the cloud of
snow thrown up by the skis.
Normally I would have painted
the cloud of snow first and then
painted the skeleton on top of it
but I wasn't sure of the direction
and shape of the cloud before I
the skeleton was drawn.
Afterwards I painted in the trees
and more detail on the
mountain and rocks.
16. I began painting the ski
track and the cloud of snow
thrown up by the skis. Normally
I would have painted the cloud
of snow first and then painted
the skeleton on top of it but I
wasn't sure of the direction and
shape of the cloud before I the
skeleton was drawn. Afterwards
I painted in the trees and more
detail on the mountain and
rocks.
17. I wasn't happy with the ski
tracks; they didn't seem to be at
the correct angle to fit with the
contour of the hill. I
contemplated this and re-drew
them. The old drawing is on the
left; the new drawing is on the
right.
Then I completely painted out
the old tracks (left), transfered
down the new drawing, and
then painted the new tracks with
improved geometry (right).
Without having the pre-mixed
paints it would have been
almost impossible to paint out
the old tracks because of the
difficulty of matching the colors
because acrylics dry darker and
are a slightly different color than
when they are wet.
With pre-mixed paints it was much easier. Note: The color difference in the photos above is
due to different lighting conditions under which they were taken. The colors were actually
the same in the painting, only the shape of the tracks were changed.
18. I returned to the cloud of
snow to add more detail. Before
I began I painted over the
skeleton and his poles with
masking fluid so that I could
paint the cloud freely without
having to worry about losing
any of my prior work on the
skeleton. The masking fluid
goes on like paint and then
dries quickly. Although I rarely
use masking fluid this particular
paintings presented its own
special technical challenges.
19. I decided I wanted to paint
the shadow of the skeleton on
the cloud more carefully and I
wasn't sure how it would look
so I set up this skeleton in my
studio with a spotlight to see the
shadows.
20. From this set-up I did a
quick pencil sketch and used it
for reference to finish painting
the shadows on the snow
cloud.
21. Here I'm peeling off the
masking fluid. It comes off more
easily than rubber cement.
However, it leaves some
jagged edges that had to be
cleaned up a little with paint
and brush. To the left you can
faintly see one of the ski poles
before the masking fluid has
been removed.
22. I worked some more on the
tracks adjusting the values
while continuing to use various
photos for reference.
23. The only thing that bothered
me in the original drawing was
the lower of the two ribbons. I
decided it didn't work any better
in the painting and to re-do it. I
redrew it on paper, painted it out
on the painting, transfered the
drawing down, and re-painted it.
I changed the lighting on both of
the ribbons as well. Again, it
was only because I had pre-
mixed paints that I was able to
make this change easily.
24. After this I did minor touch-
ups on the whole painting,
signed it, varnished it with an air
gun, and voila! "After Hours"
was finished. : )