Getting close

A lot is culminating this week - painting class and possibly some studio paintings I've been working on for a while. Class has a much more 'defined ending'!

This studio painting has been on my easel for many months and it's getting close to completion. That's exciting!

A while back I discussed and posted a photo of the underpainting/sketch. So it may look familiar to you.

Untitled (as of yet) - Upper Geyser Basin   oil   by Shirl Ireland

 

It's definitely about color! It needs to glow. I've been fine tuning for a while - adjusting the warms and cools to make the painting 'sing'. Adding some glazes, too. I can almost hear it!

So now, I'll leave it sit - that "cooling off period" I talk about. I even like to turn it to the wall so I can't see it for awhile. After all, I've been staring closely at it for a long time. It will be good to take a break and come back at it with a fresh eye.

One of the old masters said he would turn his paintings to face the wall for a while and then turn them back to face him and "see what monsters were lurking"....good way to put it!

Hopefully, I'll just make a couple minor adjustments before it's all over. But if you can see one of those 'monsters' - let me know!

Painting class culminates tomorrow evening. Our topic will be edges and brushwork. I'll give you a little preview of that art lesson in my next post.