Just Rolled off of a project I’ve been working on non-stop past couple months. It’s been a lot of fun, (and I cant wait to show it!) but was also all consuming and didn’t really allow for much time to squeeze any side painting in. I’d started this big 4×6 footer months ago, then it got sidelined,  and it’s just been sitting there waiting for me. Staring at me. I’m finally back on it.

It’s a LOT of small foliage and at this underpainting stage, it’s important to get the drawing and value relationships figured out, so it’s slow going. I’m sticking pretty close to the grid mostly so I don’t lose my place. Sort of boring, but the top half will be a little more fun and once this is all in, it’ll be worth it. Just takes time.

https://youtu.be/C4n2qnwXwcQ

I’m working monochromatically in olive green , and using sort of a random array of brushes, silicon scrapers, the backs of brushes, anything that will produce an interesting mark. At this stage I focus very hard on not being too repetitive. If a mark works, I won’t rework it, but I’m also not afraid to scrape back into something or slop on a big blob if it’s not working either. Main thing is I try not to render too much and let the paint do its thing. there will be plenty to render later on.

This is of the back side of our place, between my barn and the house. There’s an area that used to be grass, but we tore it up a couple years back with the intention of paving some of it eventually. In the spring, it really goes nuts, and I sort of let it for a while because its fun to see the variety of what grows, and I saw the makings for an interesting painting lol.

I’m excited to tackle the house area even thought it’s gonna be deceptively demanding with big straight lines at very subtle yet specific angles. It’ll be a nice yin to the yang of the bottom chaos. This is what I see when I walk back into the house late night. Countless moments standing out there waiting for the dogs to pee. at 3 am its so quiet sometimes it almost feels like your ears don’t work. hoping to capture some of that feeling in this.