Now that the foundation has been established to my satisfaction, I enter the final phase, building on the foundation to bring this painting to completion. This always takes the longest amount of time, and I proceed with care. I don’t want to lose the spontaneity I achieved with the previous work, but I also want to tighten up and clarify the elements into a cohesive whole. It is about balance and harmony.

I concentrate first on the larger buildings on either side, intensifying color, and lighting, bringing out details. Then I work on the buildings and houses in the middle distance, again bridging the space between the two prominent masses of shapes and colors on either side.

I work on the snow last. I want to have the mood, lighting and color all set before I tie it all together with the snow. It is this area that will make or break the painting, and it must be done with excellence and integrity. I put form and lighting in the snow using colors I used in the sky. I work very carefully and deliberately on the tire and foot tracks, slowly building detail.

When I am at this stage of any painting, I spend equal time evaluating and painting. I step back from the easel often, to look at each detail, each element and see how it all contributes to the whole. You cannot rush this. I add, then stop and evaluate, add and evaluate over and over, until I am satisfied this painting has achieved the vision I initially had for it.

I am very happy with this painting, I feel I achieved the goals I set for it. It was a great challenge and a very fulfilling journey. Thanks for joining me as I worked.

]]> http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-the-end-of-a-fulfilling-journey/feed/ 0 http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-time-for-unification/ http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-time-for-unification/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:21:42 +0000 admin http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-time-for-unification/

Now it is time to unify the rest of the painting by establishing the snow. This is fairly straightforward and simple, but when painting snow you must always be careful. Snow is a very tricky surface to work with, very similar to water in my opinion. As when painting water, you must be vigilant and aware at all times when painting snow, a misstep, and you can lose the feeling of the surface, and therefore the believability of the snow, or water. Once you lose that believability, there is no way to recover it, and the painting has failed. There is a lot on the line.

At this stage, I am looking to accomplish two things. First I want to establish the overall lighting and atmosphere of the painting, and I do this by repeating colors from the sky in the snow in subtle ways. Secondly, I want to establish the overall shape and form of the snow. Again, as in the previous step, this is a foundation upon which I will build the snow areas with additional washes of color. Because of this, I allow a good portion of the snow to remain white at this stage.

I work fast here, never lingering in one area, working with light and shadow, keeping the edges soft, using lots of water. This completes the foundation of the painting. It is a cardinal rule; without a strong foundation, you cannot build a strong painting. This is true for anything in life, not just art.

]]> http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-time-for-unification/feed/ 0 http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-trust-what-happens-2/ http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-trust-what-happens-2/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:16:25 +0000 admin http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-trust-what-happens-2/

After the sky has dried completely, and the masking fluid is removed, it is time to establish the foundation for the painting. This is most important. I work from the distant back to the front of a painting, laying areas of color that I will build upon as the painting progresses. I work fast here – thinking shapes of color, not buildings, keeping it loose.

I also establish depth and distance by going into some detail in the background houses and skyline. The snow on the roofs of the middle distance buildings will be a very important visual in the painting, so I take care to render this area with sharper detail, but still keeping an overall looseness, remembering that I will build color and tone on top of this area. Equally important at this early stage of work is the unifying aspect the distant and middle distant buildings have. They are a visual bridge connecting the larger, stronger elements on each side of the painting.

This is a critical step in the painting, but it is important to realize that while this step must not be overlooked, it also must not be overworked. Time to move on.

]]> http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-trust-what-happens-2/feed/ 0 http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-trust-what-happens/ http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-trust-what-happens/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:07:44 +0000 admin http://www.herringtonstudio.com/2011/12/tuesday-trust-what-happens/

The sky is always important in a landscape, and although I want a neutral, almost bland sky, I also want it to be a very strong and central element in this painting.

After I transfer my sketch to the watercolor paper, I block out the buildings and other essential elements with masking fluid. Now I’m ready.

Since I want a muted and plain feel for this painting, I will work with a limited pallet and for the sky, will use colors that will be repeated in other areas of the painting. This gives it unity and balance. I squeeze out Cobalt Blue, Indigo Blue, Davy’s Gray and Cadmium Yellow onto my pallet, grab my favorite large brushes, and then before starting, I take time to contemplate how the sky will look and how to achieve it. I believe very strongly in the mental aspect of creating art, it is every bit as important as technique and composition, and if neglected in any art, not just painting, shows as a deficiency very plainly.

One of the many things I love about watercolor is that there are times when you just have to let it all go and trust what happens, and this is very true of painting skies. After analyzing what you want to happen, and focusing this energy, you still need the courage and confidence to abandon control and let watercolor do what it does, according to its nature. I use lots of water, working quickly, keeping the yellow as a constant base tone, then washing in the other colors overtop. I want a seamless harmony of the colors, and I let the water and pigment work together to achieve it. I do not add unneeded color and do not force things, I let it play out, with confidence in the outcome.

Pittsburgh offers a wealth of artistic reference for an artist with my interests and style. The neighborhoods cling to the surrounding hills that overlook the city skyline, presenting unique opportunities for expression. I wanted a composition that embodied a sense of ordinary, everyday life and forms with a sense of the unique, the unnoticed, the beautiful.

Eye movement and composition will be important factors for this painting, as they are for every painting I create. I want the end result to draw the viewer into and through the painting, like they were walking down the street. I concentrate on shapes and the arrangement of shapes and color, reducing the realistic to simple abstract forms. While drawing, I focus on each detail, but never lose sight of the overall whole. I want a mosaic of shapes and color to flow through this painting, combined with strong eye movement and visual tension.

I drew many quick sketches for this painting, using overlays of tracing paper until I was happy with the composition, before working out in pencil the final or master drawing.

I want the viewer to walk into and through my painting. I want to draw them in, to be immersed. What seems ordinary is extraordinary, perfect in itself. Simple yet complex. Subtle. I want you to notice this as you experience my art.

Pittsburgh is a great city for an artist with interests such as mine. I stress composition, movement and the interplay of shapes and light in my art, and this city offers a wealth of reference. The common buildings become fascinating shapes of color and light, perched precariously at the edge of the solidness of the city skyline. There is beauty everywhere. Each day as we move through commonality and repetitiveness, we should be aware of the wonderment of each moment, we should see clearly. That is where the extraordinary lies within the ordinary.

The title and poem have many meanings for me. This was a painting that I needed to paint, not merely from an artistic perspective, but from an emotional and spiritual aspect too. This was a painting that came from within, something that I had to release and to express , and that outlet is through my art. I put as much mood and feeling into this work as I could draw from my soul. Art is a healing and solidifying process, deeply personal in its significance. Whether you create or appreciate art, it reaches your inner being.

But beyond those deep musings, this was a challenging painting in many ways. I specifically painted this piece with several layers of transparent washes to maximize the lighting and to achieve luminosity so that when viewed in different lighting, this painting changes with the light source, like it would be in real life.

I proceed from the middle ground to the foreground, continuing the technique I used for the middle ground. The only changes are in the details; I put more definition in the snow and grasses.

The cattails and long grass at the edge of the pond present a challenge; they must be a strong element of the painting, but not overpowering or dominant. I worked loose and quick, depicting the essence and form, not getting caught up in detail. I kept the paint fairly fluid, blending colors as I applied them to the paper, not on the palette, and used quick, gestural brushstrokes.

I take time at this phase to frequently look at the painting and its progress, evaluating each section I have just worked on. There is a tendency to over-detail areas close to the viewer, and I did not want this. When I felt I had the right look, feel, balance and harmony, I laid my brushes down.

This was a very satisfying painting for me, and I am pleased with the way I met the challenges before me and the results of my effort, as was my client. It was a fun journey, and I am honored and grateful that you traveled with me.

I now work on tying in the middle ground to the pond. This is a fairly straightforward process, moving from the back to the front. I integrate the colors of the sky into certain areas of the snow, in other places I leave the white of the paper. This gives the snow a vibrant quality, areas of sparking light, others reflective of the sky. The rule here is subtle, not overpowering; I don’t want to overwork this area, it is a visual transition area and should harmonize, not compete with the other elements of the painting.

It is said a still mind perfectly reflects the cosmos like a still pond. I had to keep my mind on this truism as I painted the reflections on the pond surface. I was totally absorbed, and this helped me to see the reflections and their corresponding trees in the middle ground.

Because of the perfect stillness of the pond, there were very clear and detailed reflections, and I painted these with the same technique I painted the trees they reflect. While it is not necessary to reproduce the reflections in a clinically exact version, they must be totally believable and match up visually.

I am careful here; this is the make-or-break phase of the painting. This is where I like to live; pushing my ability and creativity with the inherent risks that go with it. To me that’s what watercolor is all about.

Now for the pond. After blocking out the snowy edge of the pond with masking fluid, I wet the entire area to be painted twice; first with horizontal strokes, second with vertical strokes to prepare for a very fluid application of paint.

I establish the light which corresponds with the sky, and then build up progressively heavier washes of Cobalt and Indigo blue. The main objective for me at this stage is to make a seamless and smooth blending of the pigments to reflect the subtle tones of the sky.

The art of painting is like the art of cooking…you must know what individual elements are to be combined, and the proper amounts of each. You must always have the end result in mind, a perfect harmony of all elements. And this harmony depends on balance. You must not overpower one element, or it will dominate and ruin the end result. Conversely, you must not under apply an element, or it will be insignificant. Harmony and balance is true in all forms.

The sky is extremely important in this painting, as it is in all landscape paintings. It will create the mood and temperature for the scene, and will also be a baseline for the tones and hues in the pond reflections later on in the painting. There will be a delicate balance between the pond and the sky, the pond almost twice as dark and rich as the sky.

I washed cadmium yellow, cobalt blue and indigo blue in a very wet application, using large brushes and adding pigment as needed, keeping the paper very wet and the pigments fluid. It is very important to remember that the wash of colors applied will dry lighter in value than what you observe wet.

After I was satisfied with the lighting and mood of the sky, I washed in the distant tree line while the sky wash was still very wet to get a blending of the trees into the sky, I want it to be subtle and give a sense of distance from the foreground. I then moved forward a bit to define the next line of trees in the middle ground of the painting. I employ a technique I call “careful randomness” for the small branches of the trees. Although a major oxymoron, it describes the balance of water and drybrush I employed. I sometimes let the paint go very rigid only to soften with water in selected places, and vice versa. I was spontaneous as I progressed, keeping it loose, not spending a lot of time in any one area, leaving it to instinct.

The place I stopped was one of those big mega service in-out franchise places. Get what you need andget out, no personality but very effective. Bright lights and soft music helped ease the pain of the high prices. You know the place, we’ve all been there.

As I pulled up to the pumps, to my left I saw two dogs ,cold, wet and shivering , obviously abandoned, huddled by the pumps. I cannot express the sadness, the utter aloneness they conveyed. They were two, had been for maybe their entire lives, and now they were on their own, their future uncertain. But they stayed there keeping each other warm, waiting faithfully for their owners, the people in their lives that they had put their ultimate and unwavering trust in to return. Their sadness and resolve split the dreary darkness, I could not leave them. Their sorrow and uncertainty cut me deeply.

They were well trained and behaved, not a bit of suspicion or distrust in them. They reached out to me, probably the only person who had even given them a thought. They knew it was a desperate situation for them, but they didn’t know what else to do. They kept waiting, through cold and damp, no other alternatives. They would hold out hope that those who left them would return. The smaller dog, some sort of terrier was more outgoing; he (or she) came to me wanting contact, love. But he would not go far from his companion, a pretty black and white mutt that had some border collie in him (or her). I petted them both, trying to sooth them, to let them know that someone cared.

My heart sank, sank into darkness and despair. I would take them home with me in a minute, but living in an apartment, my landlord had already expressed his displeasure with pets. It was all about his assets, his rules. He would never see the greater cause, just as all the people who had pulled up for fuel and steadfastly ignored those dogs while I was there.

The attendant inside said the police had been called and the animal rescue league would take care ofthe dogs. We all know what that meant. I looked in those brown eyes, both dogs had them, and saw the utter realization that they were doomed, but they steadfastly stuck by each other, to the end if need be. They huddled together to keep warm, all the time looking at me with those imploring eyes. To see their eyes was to see creation-we are no different, we are all one.

Just then a couple in an SUV pulled up for gas. They were immediately totally concerned for the dogs, as I was. “How could someone do this?” While we all petted the dogs, they made the decision…”What will we name them?” There was no question they would take the dogs. Their compassion was like mine but they had the means to do something. By this time a policeman had arrived, and although genuinely concerned for the dogs, he could do nothing. But he allowed these wonderful folks to take the dogs, obviously going against regulations. I helped the people get the dogs in the back of their SUV. I’m sure the dirt and wet dog smell will permeate the vehicle for some time, but it didn’t matter to any of us. In a small way natural compassion, that which we are all born with, had triumphed, had saved fellow beings who were on the knife edge, cold, shivering and in despair. Their very lives hung in the balance, and we were able to make a difference.

God bless those two people who welcomed those two dogs. Their lives will be changed, but greatly enriched. We are all children of the universe, the same as the stars, the same as a common stone.

I waved as they left, then went to fill up my truck. And you know what? The outrageous price didn’t make a difference at all, it just didn’t matter.

I love storms; they fascinate me, the irresistible and unstoppable power of nature. When a storm approaches, you can feel the power, the tension, the anticipation. Nature only follows its own way. There is nothing mankind can do to alter a storm, it is of its own essence. You can only be wise and adapt to nature’s rolling force. Like everything else in life, it will not endure.

Painting a stormy sky is a great challenge, one that I enjoy. You have to let the paint and water interact, and let go. Much like a storm, it is dynamic and will follow its own path of existence.

I wanted this painting to present a unique view, experimenting with segmenting the painting into various geometric shapes. The intense power of the approaching storm viewed through the angles of the bridge is how I achieved my goal.