Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 13              In the last week I’ve begun work on the fir trees on the left. I was anxious to get them in because they impact the mass of shrubs under the bridge. The abrupt stop of the shrub mass on its left edge was bothering me […]

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 12             After getting in most of the waterfall, I felt that I would get to work on the left side. The bank of the creek as well as the evergreen trees would be the focus of my efforts for the next couple of weeks. The mass […]

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 11 Last week I discussed detail in my paintings and put forward an argument for why detail needs to be saved for the most important areas. Detail in the main subject is important because it keeps focus in that area. Detail elsewhere can be distracting. That argument […]

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 10             Using the full scale drawing as a guide I first drew in the large shrub in front of the Mill. Then, I masked out some irregular splotches to indicate snow. When the masking fluid was dry I painted in the foliage of the evergreen shrub […]

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 9 Painting the Mill is definitely the most interesting part of the project so far. It’s the focus of all the work. It’s the focal point of the painting – the main reason for the painting. It’s the subject that will have the greatest detail and – […]

Now that the background sky is in, the next step is to add the background trees. The background trees are important as a backdrop for the Mill but not important in themselves. Therefore, I don’t want a lot of detail in the trees. I want them suggested but not the star of the painting. The […]

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 7               I’ve spent at least twenty hours developing the composition, including value and color sketches, layouts and drawing the final composition in pencil before going to the painting. I transferred the pencil drawing to 300 lb Arches watercolor paper. The size of the painting will […]

The Preliminary Composition The Value and Color Sketches are meant to get the values balanced and to make sure that I’m happy with the color choices. They do not contain more a minimum of detail. I do have a problem in that any time I put pencil or brush to paper and work up sketches, […]

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 6 Some unforeseen business has suddenly reared its ugly head and I won’t be able to post Update 6 tomorrow. I will try my best to get the Update posted by March 28. I’m working on the final composition but have had to postpone work because of […]

The Color Sketch After working up a number of color sketches, I believe I’ve come up with one that looks good. When I looked at the photo something about the sky caught my attention. It was very subtle, but it was there. The lightness of the sky just above the background trees suggested a very […]