Mural Distraction

Screaming Distractions

I began painting both Wall A & B and discover a horrible mural distraction that I will need to camouflage. WALL “A” is 20’ x 10’ (200 sq ft). WALL “B” is 40’-0” wide by 10’-0” high (400 sq ft).

corner wall A&B background

wall B conduit

Can you guess what it is? Stepping back I happen to notice an item that screams loudly at me.

Bright, shiny aluminum electrical conduit lines reach across the sky. Those conduits are horribly distracting. Luckily, I have learned ways to camouflage un-moveable tyrants like these, when they interfere.

The person who taught me to paint houses and walls was my Dad the contractor. His rule was to paint every single surface. Voices from the past. I remember having to paint the bottom and top of shelves in any cupboard and all sides of every door or drawer. Why did I have to paint something I wouldn’t be seeing? Well, there was no arguing with him. Now, painting every surface is a rule that I adhere to.

Camouflage

I backtrack and camouflage paint all the conduit and wire surfaces in the same colors as the mural it is traveling over. I didn’t fix anything I just hid it. The improvement to the entire presentation is amazing. Take a look at the before and after shots to see the difference.

You can see the conduit on the left side of the column that is painted gray and then black where it crosses the column. When I look at that side my eyes are not so distracted.

wall B conduit painted

The wire and conduit on the right side of the column are not yet painted and are very distracting. So, I will be painting these wire surfaces from here on as I finish the mural.

Compare these two images below. Simply painting the conduit lines black as they are traveling along the black beam makes them seem to disappear.

wall A background with trees
wall A conduit Painted

Be sure to check this mural out when you visit the 49 Degrees North Ski Resort in Chewelah WA this winter and let them know what you think about their improvements!

What a perfect example of how un-anticipated additional costs and time occur on any job site.

Yellow Rose Watercolor

yellow rose 07
Doing this yellow rose watercolor involves many steps. Most of the time I can describe my steps simply as washes-on-top-of, washes-on-top-of, washes and so forth. I tend to pile up layers and layers of the wash until I like what I see.

Do you know the meaning of the yellow rose?

yellow rose watercolor 08

I began with this yellow rose layout in a sketch. I put a real light wash in the body of the flower bloom first. Being carefully light with the paint I add the long stem and it’s leaves, along with the little bud peeking out on the left side. I am encouraged.

Changed Backgrounds

Lately, I have noticed that I have a habit of painting backgrounds with tons of detail going to the very edge of the paper. To change things up, I will work on getting a dramatic background without walking in those footsteps this time. The biggest realization I have is that this is not going to be good without some serious background to help it pop out. The challenge will be to make an appropriate background that pops but doesn’t take over the main image.

Light Yellow

A light yellow rose watercolor can very easily fade into a white background and become a ghost. The background is my beginning to remedying that. With violet wash as a background, I add a mixture of Crimson on wet areas to the edges of my main character. A good change, don’t you think?

Dropping vermillion or cadmium reds into these areas gives a little more zing as it bleeds into the background violet and crimson.yellow rose 09yellow rose 12

Examining the watercolor rose procedure pictures I’ve taken makes another step that I take real apparent. The picture that I took of the blossom is the reference for the rose watercolor.

Never hesitate to get your old-fashioned gear out. Improve by using “photography technique” along with that “real camera” (not a smartphone). Nothing takes the place of good reference material. If you are trying to improve and learn about where the light hits and shadows extend to, use a well-lit photograph. There are millions of amateur photographers out there flooding FaceBook and the image banks with junk, but very few “real skilled photographers” capturing memorable shots with enlightened essence anymore.

Dryly Enlightening

At this point, we are looking at the dry version of this watercolor painting. Take note of the differences between the last two images and you will see a noticeable amount of fading occurs as the paints dry. While looking at a wet painting, there are many times that I am tempted to dab a bit of the pigment out of it because it seems so very bright when wet. If I can resist that urge, I am usually a lot happier with the result because the paints do fade so very much by the time they are dry.

yellow rose watercolor 13

Portrait of Chrome #2

Chrome 02Progressing with the portrait of Chrome #2, a beautiful example of the Great Dane breed. I will put the background in first so I can clearly see the character outline of the pet I am painting. Chrome is now surrounded by “wet on wet” background washes in greens and blues. To make his outline pop I am adding a touch of Crimson. He has a great regal pose, at least I really think he does.

Chrome 03This is probably going to sound crazy to some of you but I tend to put darks in “shadow areas” on my subject first. It gives the impression of a 3d presence beginning in my drawing. It tells me right away if something is off. Then, I gradually add a little more detail, then more, and then more. Typically this means that I am alternating back and forth between “light” details, then “dark” details as I go along.

 

Stella’s Background & Eyes

Stella’s background  & Eyes appear as the sky is washed in. Close-up branches hold out white reserved areas. Behind the bush, you can see a horizon line and field. I have also lightly washed in the shadows on Stella’s face to help show some 3D features.

Stella 03

Stella’s Eyes

Stella’s eyes are her best expressive feature to me. I work them in with golden brown and green with some spots of purple for darkening emphasis. Darkening shadows around them with blues and some purple. The sky behind is also darkened.

Stella 04The next step in this process is to add a brown collar. I have to be very careful to reserve the white for the metal on her collar. A shiny metal area is one of the trickiest surfaces to render, it requires abrupt edges going from stark white to black. It is really important to ensure that I don’t screw up the whites as I adjust things around them.