3/16/10

GRATE ADVENTURE

This post is the beginning of the last three weeks' adventure in painting and shows the progress of my painting process for this GRATE painting. So many times I've said that planning takes almost 75% of the time I spend on a picture. I thought that would be true this time, too, since it took over 12 hours to take the pix and develop the overall plan. But the painting time also took MUCH longer before this one was done.

After taking photos of my subject, I cut them up and montaged them onto a board to get an idea of the effectiveness of the future pattern of lights and darks. No matter how unique or fascinating a subject is, unless the light and dark values make an eye capturing pattern, it's unlikely the viewer will want to walk up to the painting. The first black and white photo of the above montage shows a weak pattern, so adjustments were made with pen and ink and a white marker - see the second black and white. Some shapes were moved slightly and some eliminated.












Next the drawing was transferred with a regular Derwent watercolor pencil onto a full sheet of heavy weight YUPO paper, and gray Pebeo miskit was painted into a few important white shapes. Then I liberally applied a colorful wash over the whole paper, as seen here, using FLUID ACRYLICS like regular watercolors. Color choices were determined by the future colors in the painting but applied in a very random manner. No attempt was made to 'color' in the lines. Creating accidental textures and wonderful color nuances seemed most important to me at this point.
Once the basic wash dried, I attempted to define specific shapes as seen in the progression of the next three photos. The last photo here indicates the painting less than half finished. There's more to come in the next post which will show the final GRATE painting.
This photo shows the fancier grate redone. In the photo above, it has a tired, overworked look, so all of the paint had to be removed, (YEAH for YUPO) then the drawing redrawn before the grate was repainted.
Thinking of a title has been fun because of the possibilities of interchanging GRATE and GREAT. Initially it was to be titled, "OVERLOOKED & UNDERFOOT." What are your suggestions?

14 comments:

Nick said...

man I LOVE that, and what a glorious palette..a totally killer painting, Sandy, a prizewinner in my book. wow

Ginny Stiles said...

"so all of the paint had to be removed...yeah for yupo"
What? You are able to remove fluid acrylic from yupo?
It was my impression that once it was down it was down.

Nancy Eaton said...

Oh my gosh! This is terfic - such creativity! Can't wait to see the finished painting. I've learned a lot from reading your blog - Thank you!

Cynthia said...

What an undertaking! You continue to amaze and astound with your
creativity and skill....so very inspiring.......that is some
Grate Junk!

Stan Kurth said...

This is scrumptious! Love the theme and design, and the variety of texture blows me away. Can't wait to see the final. Great grate work!

Myrna Wacknov said...

Original concept masterfully executed! You continue to amaze and inspire. Thanks for sharing.

Sandy Maudlin said...

Thanks, Nick. Not donje at this point but I'll post the finished pix soon.
Ginny, rubbing alcohol takes the fluid acrylics right off YUPO. Like magic!
Nancy, thanks for you kind comments. I think you'll really like the finished piece. I sure do.
Cynthia, GRATE JUNK is an awesome name for a painting. I'll keep it at the top of the list.
Stan, so glad you like GRATE art, too. Thanks for stopping by.

Chris Beck said...

Incredible, Sandy!! I really love all the textures and patterns, but what makes it so "great" is the wonderful play of color and value.

JANE MINTER said...

love this sandy ..can see endless possibilities with this wonderful subject .

Unknown said...

One of my favorites--and there are so many! I like your title but "Tread on Me" comes to mind.
Carol

Joyfulartist said...

Just great! I love the colors and the movement. It's really an eye pleaser. I can't wait to see the finished painting. You are an inspiration.

Jeanette Jobson said...

Good heavens! The complexity and planning that went into this is amazing. A complete winner. Fabulous work Sandy!

Sandy Maudlin said...

Myrna and Chris, I'll bet there are some grate possiblities in California just waiting to be painted..... road trip! Hey, maybe that's the title???
Jane, don't know if you saw last year's Italian grates at http://sandymaudlin.blogspot.com/2009/04/grate-art.html. I'd love a translation of the Italian on them.

Another good title, Carol. Tread certainly happens on these via so many tires, too.

Jan and Jeanette, I so appreciate your stopping by with words of encouragement. Thank you very much. The finished painting should be posted by tomorrow evening. Happy painting.

Sandy Maudlin said...

Here are some comments that I managed to delete instead of post. I copied them and pasted here. THANK you so much for stopping by and commenting, too, and, Paul, you are too funny with words.

A Brush with Color -
Fabulous! Wowowow! amazingly complex, and your eye just wants to move around forever in it. Love it, Sandy! Several of those titles are good--wish I was decent at titles, but I'm not!

Paul Kasmir ---
Sandy,

Looking forward to the completion,
title suggestions,
Grate Expectation's (thats a Given)

TheEEEEEre GRatE!!!!

Threading on Grateness.

JRonson ---
U r truly talented, this mix of objects and 'buttons' and the colors r perfect !!
i swear i love your type of art :)