(for comparison) Day 5

At the End of Day 6

Today was an outdoor painting day, with glorious sunshine providing optimal lighting. I'm now working over the entire painting looking for areas and details needing improvement as I approach finishing the piece. I added color and depth in the background foliage and tree trunks, worked on some of the faces and clothing and added a little more blue sky showing through.

I'll be doing final touchups for a couple more days, but the changes will be subtle, so I'll probably wait until the piece is finished to post another photo of the overall painting. In the meantime, though, I'll add a page showing the palette of colors I use and giving some other information on my preliminary work and reference materials.

Enjoying the Final Stages

Today was a day spent working on the final stages of making everything come together in the painting. The birds were singing and I had Neil Young and Wilco on the truck stereo parked nearby. Sometimes music helps prime me for painting at my best. Painting and music share many similarities in being outpourings of human expression. The medium is just very different.

Taking a Break

As I work on a major painting, I have to take short breaks now and again for eye relief and to recharge. On a day like this, what can beat a song or two with the guitar? By the way, in the background of the painting there is one person, just barely discernible, sitting in the grass playing a guitar. My intent is that this could possibly be me. You'll have to wait to see the final piece, though, to be able to look for the guitarist. Fact is, there were a few times in the late seventies when you could have found me doing just that on campus.