Work in Progress
Le Cadeau du Cheval
Introduction
This is my special project for the summer. One 16x16 inch panel in a mural project put together by “Unity through diversity” Mural Mosaic in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Le Cadeau Du Cheval - The Horse Gift combines the work of nearly 200 equine artists from around the world and 238 panels into a finished piece of artwork.
I am very pleased and honored to be part of this project.
May 12, 2008
Artists were given a selection of panels to chose from and this is the panel I chose.
I'm sure I had some ideas about what to do with it when I chose this panel, but I confess that the first thought to cross my mind when I opened up the box today and looked at the panel was, "What was I thinking?!"
I have no idea what to put on it, but I set it up so I could look at it periodically with the thought that something will come to mind. The color is very nice, shades of magenta almost.
May 27, 2008
I have been waiting for my panel to speak to me or for inspiration to strike.
It never did say anything and I've noticed that inspiration doesn't usually strike. It's more of a process of considering every idea that comes to mind and discarding those that don't work for one reason or another until I finally encounter the right one.
So it was with this project. I looked at harness racing ideas. Thoroughbred racing ideas. Mustang ideas. Portrait style ideas. Any idea that came to mind was considered. Most of them didn't work because of the square format and the arrangement of values on the panel were also confounding. But most of them just didn't really spark anything but indifference. If there's one thing that dooms most ideas, it's indifference!
When it comes to special projects, I seem to do better with a short deadline. The higher the pressure, the better I paint. I don't always like that, but that does seem to be the case.
The painting I painted for the 2007-08 Shadwell Estates Ltd. Stallion Brochure Competition, for example, was put together in about three weeks after agonizing for three weeks or more over what to paint.
I have had this panel for over two weeks and have been agonizing over what to put on the panel. It needs to be dry and delivered by early July. I will be using M. Graham Oils on it, which means I have to allow at least two weeks drying time, so I have about three weeks. Remove five days for a trip to Michigan and that’s somewhere around two weeks to get the thing done.
What that means is that I'm right on schedule by the time table set with the Shadwell project!
But I did need to get started, so today, I took the panel, my primary reference photo, the original drawing and paint and brushes to the gallery. I figured if I got time each of the next two days to work it at the gallery, that would be good.
I enlarged the drawing in sections, pieced it together and taped it to the panel. So far so good. All I had to do was transfer it and I could start painting.
I just couldn't get it transferred. Nothing would stick, even after I got desperate enough to sand the panel enough to scuff up the surface of the paint film.
So I decided to just wait until I got home and could use better tools and transfer paper.
Then I scrapped that idea and the drawing and drew a horse head after the classical style. I used a colored pencil and drew right on the panel. No preliminary work. No compositional design. Nothing but a raw drawing on a nearly raw painting surface.
Then I mixed up Cerulean Blue and Quinacridone Magenta and started painting. I hadn't taken any white to the gallery, so there wasn't much I could do but outline and refine the drawing a little bit, but I made a start and that has been the most difficult thing so far.
And, what's even better ... I like what I've done so far! That's always a good thing!
At this stage, it’s all about blocking in lights and darks and attempting to keep the design as true to the original color and value patterns as possible while painting as realistic an image as possible.
I’m not sure exactly how that is going to work, because I like the lavender half-tones and I just haven’t seen that many lavender horses, but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
I have added Titanium White to the base mixture of Cerulean Blue and Quinacridone Magenta (have I mentioned that I really like the Quin Magenta? It was my replacement for Alizarin Crimson, which is a fugitive color even in the “permanent” variety and it has worked out extremely well even though it’s not the same color).
I also began painting highlights and shadows and blocking in values a little better.
Since this is still an early phase, there is also a good deal of correction taking place. That is most noticeable over the crest and around the neck and shoulders, all of which I adjusted in this phase of painting.
In this step, refinement continues, though the image is actually less defined than in the previous step.
The areas I worked on most were the mane and forelock and the areas of the background with which they interact. I need to be very careful to maintain the pattern of lights and darks because this pattern is only one small part of a whole and should contribute to the overall image.
I have also worked over the ears, eye, muzzle and chin to reshape and position them.
All of this work was completed in one day. After so much hemming and hawing about what to paint, it's great to get such a fast start. I am hoping to get a little bit more time to work on it again before heading out of town. If not, it should be dry enough to work on when I return. With so much ground work already in place, it should be fairly easy to complete in a timely manner.
However, I try not to count chicks before they are hatched, so I will have to see what I think and how work shapes up next week.
June 4, 2008
Back from a great trip to Michigan and back to work!
Progress continues. I am beginning to see light at the end of this tunnel and I don’t believe it’s a train.
Most of the painting revolved around defining the main features of the face (eye, muzzle, ears) and the mane, which is to be long and flowing.
I used a couple of fine brushes and paint thinned with walnut oil to paint in the long, billowing hair of the mane and, to a lesser extent, the forelock. I love doing this sort of thing so enjoyed the painting session quite a bit.
But after reviewing it later in the evening, then again Thursday morning when I photographed it, I began to wonder about the color patterns. The diagonals are fine, but I need to adjust the colors the next time I paint. A good deal of the reds and pinks are missing.
I’m also not quite happy with the value range in the head, but that can be tweaked as the painting nears completion. The real subject is the mane so that comes first.
It often helps to know what to do the next time I start painting, though. Even if it’s fixing a problem area. Portrait artist William Whitaker is known to start each painting session in a manner that causes the least amount of damage.
Looks like I need to take a page from his book for the next painting session!
June 5, 2008
Do you remember what I said yesterday? About William Whitaker starting each painting session by working in an area where he could do the least amount of damage?
That’s what I did, although I actually painted over a good deal of the previous night’s work. Alas! That’s the way the painting process goes quite a bit of the time.
Last night I realized I was getting off course in following color and values, so tonight, I worked with the painting on the easel and standing back far enough from the painting to see without my glasses. That forced me back about arm’s length and allowed me to refer more frequently to the printed image of the original panel.
I also used a medium, bristle bright (or maybe it’s a flat…it’s so well worn it’s hard to tell!) to apply color in broad brush strokes.
Then I worked wet-into-wet with a smaller, sable bright (or flat) to add finer detail to the mane and forelock.
It doesn’t really look like it, but I am another step closer to completion on this painting.
June 6, 2008
The first thing I did when I set to work on this painting today was go through a few albums of horse photos I’ve taken over the years. I wanted to check anatomy, values and placement of lights and darks while I had enough wet paint on the canvas to be able to make subtle and not-so-subtle changes of that sort.
I found several that sparked new ideas and four that fit my current project very well. Two of them were put away again and I kept out the best one, which was an almost perfect match, and the second best one, which featured a very light gray horse that showed subtle variations to perfection.
Equipped with those two references, I then began what will be the final stage for Windswept. The details.
I didn’t have much time to paint Friday night due to dividing time between getting ready for an oil painting class tomorrow. But it didn’t take very much work to make a big difference. I could see an immediate improvement in the painting as soon as I started painting highlights.
Yes, I know the horse has only one ear at the moment. That’s on my list of things to do!
June 9, 2008
This project is now complete!
As often happens with paintings, when I set to work today after two days out of the studio, it didn’t take very long to realize the painting was nearly complete. I’m not sure why that is, but such is the case.
Some of the smooth edges were softened, some of the lights lightened and darks darkened and detail added, particularly along the jowl and jaw.
The biggest change was around the eye. The eye was moved downward slightly and slanted forward slightly to make it more correct. With a reference to look at, I could also see where the primary and secondary highlights needed to be and added those. Once the highlights and the dark of the pupil was added, the eye really came to life.
The nostril and the inside of the near ear was darkened and I added the off side ear. The second ear is painted lightly to avoid creating too dramatic a shape in an area that is supposed to be fairly tonal.
Also, the mane is the center of interest, so other areas needed to be a little more subdued.
After that, I dipped a small, fine, sable round into walnut oil and simply drew in the long hair in long, flowing curves. I once did a colored pencil portrait of a harness racing filly named Blizzard Babe that had a lot of mane and that was my favorite part to draw and the favorite part of a lot of people who saw the finished painting.
So when I got down to the mane with this painting, I tried to use the same, loose wristed technique to create those graceful lines. It was a bit more challenging with a brush and paint than with a colored pencil, but it worked out very well. A detail of part of the mane is shown here.
I would have loved to spend a lot more time doing this because it was fun and easy and because long manes are a major part of the charm of a horse as far as I’m concerned. I suppose that’s why I have several Paso Finos, Icelandics and Andalusians I’d like to paint.
But less is sometimes more, so I cut the fun short after I had drawn enough fine hairs to suggest a full, wind-swept mane.
The most strenuous part of the painting was getting a decent signature on it, but then, I never have been very good at lettering!
The finished painting is shown first, followed by some detail images. These three details are among my favorite passages in the painting.
As you can see, I used a looser stroke and style with this painting than what I usually do. That was due in part to working in a half-tone of purples, which naturally lends itself to whimsy.
The surface texture of the panel also contributes to the overall look of the painting. I have noticed this with some of my other paintings and have begun to take surface texture into consideration when getting ready to paint.
Using a paint that requires two weeks to dry also has a lot to do with the process. While having the paint stay wet for days at a time can allow me to paint wet-into-wet for a few days running, it does mean I have to allow enough drying time at the end to meet deadlines.
This painting needs to be on site by July 1, three weeks and one day from today. Remove the two weeks of drying time and a few days for shipment and I got this one in just under the wire!
It will spend the next week in the drying room, where it can get lots of light and dry flat and be out of sight. Having it out of sight is good because I can’t tweak it if I can’t see it and allows me to look at it again with a fresh eye the next time I check it.
September 3, 2008
Le Cadeau Du Cheval - The Horse Gift, was officially unveiled at The Masters, at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alberta, Canada this evening.
Some of my artist friends from the Calgary, Alberta area were in attendance and gave glowing reports of the event and of the mural, itself.
The finished mural combines the work of187 of some of the finest equine artists from around the world.
The 22.5 foot high mural combines 238 various equine themed paintings with no digital effects to form one unified mural masterpiece.
Designed by Canadian artist Lewis Lavoie, the mural brings together the amazing talents of equine artists from such countries as Canada, USA, England Germany, Finland, Romania, South Africa, Argentina, Peru, Australia and Mexico.
Le Cadeau Du Cheval - The Horse Gift is considered by many to be the most definitive collaborative equine masterpiece ever created celebrating the world’s love, admiration and respect for the horse.
“Unity through diversity” Mural Mosaic brings together hundreds of individual paintings created by hundreds of artists into a single unifying image. Each painting reflects the individual artist’s unique creativity and style. When a painting is completed it is carefully placed in sequence within the mural to assemble one masterpiece.
The next stop on the mural tour is the official US unveiling on October 9, 2008 at the Columbus, Ohio- Quarter Horse Congress. We will post unveiling times once that is confirmed. So for those who were unable to attend in Calgary we hope you can make it to Columbus!