Large Painting

[Sharon Casavant]

I am about to undertake a large painting in oil.  It is 4 ft by 2 ft horizontal.  I want to paint Mount Rainier in Washington.  The mountain is off to the right, not taking up the whole painting.  Any suggestions how to go about this?  I have printed out some photos and taped them together so far.

[Sharon Casavant]

I don't like the "bump" of a mtn in the center... not sure what color to make it.  I think it is too dark.  And the green at the base is too dark, have to change that, too.

[Sharon Casavant]

[Sharon Casavant]

ok, this is the one that I was talking about. I love how it keeps evolving.  Too bad I don't get it right the first time!  I would save on paint!  I am going to do next months challenge, think it will help.  (if I have time) I am supposed to start teaching art to children in June, wish me luck!

[Karlo Bonacic]

Hello Sharon, doing large paintings are slow process for me too...

It is this " S " line (light blue) going down from big mountain that looks strange to me ? It looks like man made bridge - strada.. or similar..(how is in original photo)

[Sharon Casavant]

I see that I didn't upload the latest picture of the painting, hmm... well, let me try again, it's called "multi-tasking" while pulling weeds.

[Sharon Casavant]

Busy studying all the "rules" to landscape painting.  It's sometimes difficult to be spontaneous, though.  I have done a little more and will be doing more today.  I think the foreground needs to be toned down a bit, I wanted the large mountain to be one center of interest, but the foreground is taking over!  Oh, well.  I know I need to knock down the green at the bottom of the mtn, add more purple near the white to make it stand out.  The trees need a little more highlight from the morning light on them.  The dead trees need another layer of graying...etc... :)

[Stuart J. Gourlay]

Sharon, I have been using mostly Gamblin's oils for the past 3 or 4 years; I used to use mostly Grumbacher's.  If I can't find a color from Gamblin, I will look first at Winsor & Newton and then at others.  I use a limited palette with no more than about 7 or 8 colors with a little variation sometimes but for landscapes I use a neutral yellow (Hansa Yellow Medium), pale yellow ochre (WN),ultramarine blue, transparent earth red (instead of burnt sienna), napthol red, indian red, viridian and titanium white.  These are all from Gamblin except the pale yellow ochre.  To gray my sky I use the pale yellow ochre and viridian and for my vegetation I mix the ochre or burnt sienna and indian red with the viridian.  For grays and blacks, I use the ultramarine blue and transparent earth red.  All these colors are either transparent or semi-transparent except the ochre and the white.  I also use Galkyd lite from Gamblin to accelerate drying and very little OMS (Gamsol).  I am very pleased with Gamblin's products and I have an independent art store right in town that discounts Gamblin products 40% off list on a regular basis; so that makes it pretty easy.  I also have been using Gamblin's alkyd based paints (Fastmatte) for my underpaintings, because they tack up so fast,  particularly outdoors.  Stu

[Sharon Casavant]

Thanks, I try.  I like a challenge.  I went and looked at your paintings.  They are a great inspiration.  What is your favorite brand of oils?

[Stuart J. Gourlay]

I have also done murals on my granddaughters' walls with cartoon characters in acrylics--much easier than this.  My largest paintings so far are 24" by 36", and I have done about 5 or 6 of them.  A lot of work.  The ones that came out best were scaled up from smaller works, so I will usually work out the composition, shapes, value pattern and color harmony on no bigger than 12" by 16" and scale it up with added detail and maybe a slight change in the format ( 3 X 4 to 2 X 3 or 4 X 5); this seems to work best for me.  The several I have done at that size de novo seem to have problems with values, cloned shapes and color harmony and I get frustrated with trying to rework them.  So, my solution has been to do a small study first (sometimes plein air) and if I really like it, I will scale it up.  Several of my studies posted on this site "Casa Madrona" and "Morning Light" done in 12" by 16" and 16" by 12" are my initial studies for work underway right now to 24" by 36" for the first and 24" by 40" for the second.  I will post them when I finish.  My "Sunday Farmers' Market" and "Fourth and A Streets-Sunset" were both done de novo and are each 18" by 24", so I know that I can do some larger stuff without initial studies just from photo references.  When I upscale, I usually print out a black and white image of the initial study on multiple sheets of paper by just multiple cropped portions; I scotch tape them together and put some transfer paper between the black and white image over the larger canvas and use a scribbing tool to transfer my design.  I will then correct anything I need to and sketch in my drawing with thinned acrylic and erase the transfer.  I usually put a coat of gesso on top of this and then block in my larger painting.  I can't see the point of redrawing something I have already painted by squaring it off; so this is just a time saver rather than cheating.  I think the main problem with very large paintings is being able to stand back far enough to see the overall design, so that the initial plan of the composition and the notan (light/dark abstract design) can get messed up without realizing it.  Also for good color harmony you need to have a little bit of any color in the painting in multiple areas of the canvas.  See where you may need it requires stepping back and most people do not have a studio large enough for this (that would include me).  I admire your courage and sense of adventure in undertaking such a large work.  Stu

[Sharon Casavant]

hmmm. not so sure... I have done a wall mural before on my daughter's bedroom wall of Beauty and the Beast, not too large, though.