The drawing for Spring was designed right on the panel. I had already experimented with drawing on the oil gesso ground on the panel, Summer, and knew that the ground was tough enough to withstand some vigorous erasing.
Summer is the second panel in the Seasons series for my friends, a lovely couple who now live in Arkansas. We met several years ago when IlluXCon was held briefly at the Reading Public Art Museum and they were there as avid fans of imaginative realist art. They found my work and subsequently invited us to visit them. Sometime after that, they commissioned this series.
In this first panel (above) the first “skin” of ochre paint covers the graphite drawing. After this layer is dry, I go back over the drawing with a sharpie which will eventually be completely obscured by the next several layers of paint. If you look closely, you can still see a few of the paler graphite lines showing under the ochre color.
The first layers were applied in an area that was of immediate interest to me. In this stage, I don’t worry too much about the details like texture; I’m just paying attention to the forms as they appear in the light and the shadow they may cast. The mouse, tucked behind the Morels, was eventually eliminated because I thought it distracted from the presence of the rabbits.
More layers are added to the initial area and more sections are started with thin layers of paint. The layers that were painted first are deepened with color and given darker glazes to shift the chroma or the shadows. Texture and details are added into wet layers.
More layers add depth and the details are beginning to really make some of the elements pop. A leaf has replaced the mouse in the composition. (I have yet to draw Fall, so perhaps the mouse will make a re-appearance there.)
Finally adding shadow and light layers to the upper left bluebells. More details and shadow were added to the Trillium and now the rabbits are beginning to really stand out.
Spring, 36” x 36”, oil on cradled hardboard. 2024.
The finished piece… tightened and with all the little added details like whiskers, the bluebells’ stamens and pistils, and the bees’ wing veining. Yay! I took the photo outside to have the most natural light capturing the colors.
Spring has joined Summer on the living room wall (the ceiling art spotlights leave much to be desired) to wait until Kevin and Laura come to visit and take their art home. The third panel, Winter has begun!