I just finished and delivered three new paintings to Sorrel Sky Gallery, in Durango, Colorado (plus one more, which I had painted a few years ago.)
Here are some behind-the-scenes pictures, to give you an idea of the process I go through with my paintings -- from drawing and painting them, to matting and framing them for the gallery.
For this series of flower paintings, I started out with a pencil drawing on unstretched watercolor paper. Then, I inked the lines with a Micron pen (waterproof and permanent.)
I then thoroughly rinsed the paper in the kitchen sink, scrubbing when I needed to, in order to remove all the graphite from the paper -- leaving a clean ink line.
I then stapled the paper onto gatorboard, and let it dry.
I started with a wet-in-wet underpainting of yellow/rose/cobalt blue -- keeping it pretty light. When this was dry, I painted a brighter yellow underpainting on all the leaves, and then started painting the individual red shapes. I varied the colors in the shapes -- using both warm and cool reds.
I started painting the green leaves, leaving the veins unpainted. I also painted blue in the background, and added some darks in the roses and in the mosaic mirror.
I didn't like the background at all, so I decided to go dark.
Here's the finished painting, "Red Roses, Red Roses" . . .
I started the next painting in the same way, but this time, I painted the background first, and then never touched it again.
I then painted the petals different shades of chartreuse, using various mixtures of Aureolin Yellow, Sap Green, Cobalt Blue, and Cerulean Blue. I love the color of these orchids, especially against the blue sky.
I then started working on the inside of the flowers . . .
. . . and adding the green stems, with magenta dropped into the green, at the base of the flower.
I finished by deepening some of the colors and adding shadows and some darks. Here's the finished painting, "Green Orchids". (I'm known for my interesting titles -- Ha!)
For the third painting, in a square format, I started with a wet-in-wet underpainting on the leaves (which is also the background).
Then, I painted a wet-in-wet, cool underpainting for the two primroses.
Then I started painting the flowers, petal by petal, with Magenta, Cobalt Blue, and French Ultramarine.
I work wet-in-wet WITHIN each petal, to keep the color transitions soft.
The leaves were painted with different mixtures of yellow and green, leaving the veins unpainted. I painted one shape at a time, and when each shape was almost dry, I "dotted" it with a damp paintbrush, to get that texture.
Here's the finished painting, "English Primrose", after the darks and shadows were added.
To get the painting ready to be matted, I have to remove it from the gatorboard. I easily pull out the staples with a palette knife.
I learned a long time ago that I was terrible at cutting mats, so I don't do that anymore. I even tried making frames, and that was a fiasco. So, now I have experts cut my mats and make my frames. But, I do assemble it all myself, in order to save a little money. Using acid-free, linen framer's tape, I make a hinge, connecting the mat to the backing board, at the top.
Then, I position the artwork in the window.
. . . and affix the painting to the backing board with clear mylar photo corners.
Here are the matted paintings, awaiting their frames.
Putting the tacks in the back, with a framer's gun
Adding the wire to the back, for hanging . . .
I framed this series in simple black wood frames. They're now ready to be loaded into my car and taken to the gallery.
Just one more thing to do -- clean up "New York City Lights" for the gallery. I had painted it a few years ago, but it had not yet been shown in the Durango gallery. So, time for a new home . . . (I was a little torn about it, since it looked so nice hanging in my own living room.)
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