Thursday, October 1, 2009

Praying to the Wind Gods


8" x 10"
Oil on Foam Board
Racing sailboats at this time of year can be frustrating. As the sun goes down, the wind dies and leaves sailboaters quietly waiting for a puff of air, their spinnakers hanging in the breathless evening. Everyone "prays to the wind gods" in hopes of getting the air first. The setting sun also creates the most spectacular sunsets.


With many of my paintings, I do a drawing in black acrylic paint and then I identify the darkest darks which I paint in black acrylic. I don't want to lose this dark value during the painting process. I then coated the surface with a mixture of cadmium yellow dark and transparent red oxide. I also added a bit of magenta because the sky in my photo was so pink in parts. I am an impatient painter and acrylics dry so fast, so I use acrylics for this step as well. Sometimes I do the mid value, but decided to leave it all orangy yellow so that spots of it  would show through and hopefully add a glow to the painting. I then start painting with the oils. I was wondering, is hearing about a painting process interesting, or boring?

9 comments:

Tammy Hext said...

this is just beautiful!

magicmyst said...

What a wonderful golden glow that you have captured on the water. Kay

Janelle Goodwin said...

Thanks for explaining your process! I always enjoy hearing about how other artists achieve their work, especially in the planning stages of the painting. Beautiful sunset glow!

Edward Burton said...

Very beautiful, Catherine. I like reading about your painting process - definitely NOT boring.

Edward Burton said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mary Anne Cary said...

Catherine, I love seeing the process people use for painting. It is very helpful and not boring. (I'm basically teaching myself) so this is how I learn! Didn't know you are my teacher, did you? I am a good student because I am really impatient too and usually tone my surface with acrylic. Great colors, love your boat pictures. It IS Fall here, it's been a nice September, but the cold is moving in!!!!

Carol Schiff Daily Painting said...

Boring??? Never!!! Love the painting, especially the contrasting colors.

I always appreciate when an artist shares their process. It seems everyone has a little nugget of information, like your process of putting in the darks in black acrylic. Makes sense, why didn't I think of that?

Diana Marshall said...

Definately not boring and much appreciated, always interested to find a new way of doing things and learning new stuff...keep it coming.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your paintings and your process. I've lived in Taiwan for ten years now and you provide heartwarming glimses of dear Canada.