"PEBBLES" IN PROGRESS
This page shows the story of one of my paintings; from blank canvas to eventual completion. It is a painting which has made a departure from those in the gallery page to date in that it is figuratively derived! A beach scene -not stereotypical of course, but of stones, rock and seaweed. The colours and shapes of the rubbish that washes up on the beach has always held a fascination for me - the tangle of brightly coloured fishing net, fleshy worn driftwood, round floats and hammered glass. This is a step in that direction. The colours and shapes to be seen in the stones and seaweed are very wide ranging, and allow for a much broader pallette and complexity of form than I would have used in my much more controlled abstracts.
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Base colour roughly scrubbed on. This kills the glaring white of the bare canvas. In this case the colour chosen is "Raw Umber" that has been broken with titanium white. Raw umber is a deep brown which breaks to a wonderful grey - chosen for it's compatibility with the general stone colour - alot of this will remain visible in the finished piece.
First wave of work complete - basic forms sketched in, and all the main colours laid thinly. My signature lines have been wacked on in the top left corner, where the approach suited the rock.
Reinforcing the main tonal structure with Alizarin Crimson. Some delicacy was lost here but "you can't make an omelette..."
Broken "Olive Green" used to re-establish edge of stones, and thereby also the variation within the alizarin crimson lines -clunkiness eliminated. A lovely phase of the work.
Applied a Cobalt Violet (hue), graphically in thin lines around the edge of stones and within the darkest shadows to define form.
Broken raw umber (this time a yellower make) broadcast dotted, with local concentrations, to break up and soften the graphic lines just applied.
The light yellow of a "Beige" has been dropped onto the odd lighter stone, punctuating the canvas with a lift and linking to top left.
Running alongside the cobalt violet (hue) has been added the fabulous blue of French Ultramarine - a very comfortable neighbouring, glimpses of each peep through like scattered jewels. The seaweed ribbons have been laid down with the translucent Raw Sienna overlaid with and lifted by the equally translucent but more orangey Indian Yellow. Old blue fishing net brightly swirls.
More, and subtly differing stone colours have been laid on adding visual variety and emphasising egde. Small dots concentrated in an area to be overlaid with a dark.
Nearing completion now - has been a bit of a journey. Centre top darkness re-established, and broken with a few lighter highlights. This dark area provides important tonal rhythm.
French Ultramarine lines brought to the centre top darker area. Bright hue dotted as small glass fragments. Translucency added to central seaweed strand with the fabulous sap green.
A pinky brown has been introduced in the centre top dark area, to break it up and also link to the pinky stones below, giving unity. It has been a bit of a journey, and an ambitious undertaking but the work is now finished.
