Grand Canyon IV

by **CarlOwen** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:08 pm

Good evening. Thought I would try this forum for this painting. While thought fussing over the 'Working Hands at Rest' painting all my background ideas finally coalesced about another Grand Canyon painting that has been brewing since our last visit there in June of 2013. I took over 800 photos while we were there. This painting has references to two different photos. Maybe three by the time I am done. The painting is going to require two map drawings to pull off. I think. This is the first post. It is not yet finished. I still have to finish some legs and fill the canyon into the big open center space. But I though I would post it as the starting point for this work in progress.

by **Kristian_Saapunki** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:07 am

Hello Carl!
I will follow this one as well and hope to learn something and get inspiered to try to paint again. <3
I will not try to give and pro freeback of any sort. Becose I have non to give.
But I will say that I enjoyed your last one. And that you are really good at explaining how you think and go about painting.

Thank you for sharing!

by **CarlOwen** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 8:16 am

Good morning Kristian. Thank you for your interest and comments. It gives me impetus to proceed knowing that I am actually inspiring another artist. I can understand your opinion about not giving an evaluation or critique. There are some works on this site I just simply look at and admire. However, if you have a question from time to time, feel free to ask. As to being inspired, I find that when I hit the doldrums it is usually because I am tired or I have lost the visual concept of what I want to present to the world and why I want to present it. For this soon to be painting, there are times an idea sits in the back of my mind for years waiting until I have figured out the how of it and if I can do it. I think I have developed the skill needed to pull this off now, so it is time to proceed. I am already seeing several problems I have created for myself that I must solve to cross the finishing line on this one. I just love that. Have a good new year.

by **CarlOwen** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 7:48 pm

Hi all. I worked on the larger drawing today and yesterday. Took me a couple of days to figure out that I could not get the canyon scene I wanted in that blank space in the small drawing. So, I decided to proceed to the next larger drawing. The drawing is on 24 by 18 inch heavy paper. There were several issues I did not expect with enlarging the drawing. First issue was that the animal forms needed more definition and accuracy than the smaller drawing. Second issue was that the organization of the downed tree limbs had to be addressed. Presented the way it was on the smaller drawing the same organization just looked to busy and simply wrong as it detracted from the animals. Third issue was the need to strengthen the shading in the canyon area to give me a map capable of drawing the viewer's eye into the center of the drawing. Lots of little things cropped up like how to present depth without making to many busy forms in the canyon area, Should I keep the size of the tree, That canyon bluff on the right needed to be considered as to high or to low and how do I maintain the overall composition with all that busy work in the canyon area. Do I now prepare the big canvas? Can I expect the same sets of problems when I enlarge again? Do I color enhance this drawing before I transfer to the larger canvas or after? I just love it when the painting/drawing challenges me.

I will post the drawing progression tomorrow and do some more thinking about the big canvas. The grid on the larger drawing is two and three eights inches square. The canvas grid will be four inches by four inches.

by **CarlOwen** » Sat Jan 07, 2017 10:31 am

Good morning. These are the drawing posts on the 18 by 24 inch heavy paper from start to finish. I have decided to do the 30 by 40 inch canvas drawing next. Any coloring will come after that. So, I will be preparing the canvas today and possibly tomorrow. It is a Fredrick framed canvas that is to loose for my taste. I like the sound of the drum strum when I tap it with my finger. Feel free to comment or ask questions. Going to work after I post these five process drawings.

by **CarlOwen** » Fri Jan 13, 2017 11:33 am

Good morning. I have started the 30 by 40 inch canvas. Just as I expected. A new set of problems has cropped up. The images on the 18 by 24 inch canvas needs more detail. I expected that. What I didn't expect is that while the larger images needs more detail there needs to be less busy work in smaller images or just leave them out altogether. And some of the shapes within the larger images, such as the bluffs, need to be changed and some areas need to be amplified just to keep the visual interest. I also see in my mind's eye that I must do the complete black and white drawing so I can actually see the somewhat finished painting instead of just making this a map to be painted. This is somewhat like when you go through a type of training you will fall back on that training when in a stressful situation or face the unknown. This is both. I am at the limit of my technical skill level and my cognitive ability to perceive the union of concepts and construction. I am now entering the self doubt zone. Hope you enjoy these two development postings.

by **Singular** » Sat Jan 14, 2017 3:08 pm

The drawing is shaping up nicely, Carl.

by **CarlOwen** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:23 pm

Thanks Joe. Posting work done yesterday. Working more on it today. It has started to snow. What better way to spend a day like this.

by **CarlOwen** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:24 am

Good morning all. Well shoot and all that stuff. Yesterday was not one of my most productive days. Rained, snowed and overcast all day. Just glad we are in a nice warm home. I fussed with the sheep forms for about three hours and finally got the little guy in except for the head. I have one more body and three heads to do on these forms. Then of course the rest of the drawing. Foul weather affects me more than I care to admit.

Moving on. Drawing analysis. Forms shift in size and location when I transfer from small to large. I use the grids as guide lines, not boundaries for form control. It seems to me that each size shift requires a mental reconstruction of the positive space (forms) and negative space (minor shapes and open fields) in order to maintain the synchronicity of the canvas space in relationship to the visual construction upon it. It may take some time to wrap your mind around that sentence. It is about the closest I can come to verbally describe an amorphous concept that produces an image without the interference of words. Next. While drawing I was seeing color intensity levels that would be replacing the black and white shading and lines representing the shapes. That upper limb on the right is going to be darker than the limbs on the ground. But the limbs on the ground will have more detail than the upper limbs. The ram will have slightly more detail than the other three sheep with each one having a lesser detail from front to back. Maybe, maybe not. It again depends on the synchronicity between the animal forms and the landscape forms. That is the actual area where I let the painting speak to me, so to speak.

Going to post this single image and then going to work. I hope my descriptive language and image posts are helpful to others who struggle with creating art.

by **CarlOwen** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:20 am

Posting yesterday's work before I start work today. Not much done on the canvas but there sure was a lot of mental arguments going on about line, shading, how much of each and a small doubt about whether or not I should or could do this differently or should I just scrap it and save the canvas for another painting at another time. You see I have not yet figured out how I am going to get my textured sky into this painting or how I am going to mix the painting approaches of brush and pallet knife and keep it together as a contiguous whole. Given everything I have written here, this is beginning to present itself as the biggest problem I have to solve to finish this painting. Grand Canyon 3 painting presented it's own set of problems to be solved. This one appears to be presenting the next level of problems. Can't wait to see how this one turns out.

by **CarlOwen** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 5:32 pm

Been a good day. Got some real work done. Shapes, forms, shading, lines, decisions, decisions and more decisions. Mentally exhausted. I am satisfied. Will post tomorrow morning. No work tomorrow as it is a business day. Anon.

by **CarlOwen** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 10:43 am

Good morning. Going to post three more to show the progress. Some of the changes are subtle but were selected as progress posts because they demonstrate each major field of added described spaces and forms.

by **CarlOwen** » Thu Jan 19, 2017 9:13 am

Good morning. Got to work a little on it yesterday. Finished shading the female sheep on the left. May get to the Ram today. Still have to take care of some life business today before the next snow storm hits sometime tomorrow. This time I am leaving the pencil lines in place instead of blending the shaded parts with a stubble or usually the little finger of my right hand so that I can see the directions of the lines to guide me with the paint strokes either with a pallet knife or brush. I will be using both applications on this painting. Still mulling over how I am going to do the sky.

by **CarlOwen** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 9:06 am

Good morning. Got more work done yesterday. Posting four progress images this morning. On the first one I finished the ram. In addition to the directional shading I reworked the leg forms to present a more accurate representation. On the second one I added in the middle and top row of leaves. On the third one I started the canyon. A few words about the tree. The bottom leaves reflect a view of looking on top of the leaves. The middle row is looking straight at the leaves. The top row is looking at the underside of the leaves. By doing the tree this way I believe I enhance the views of the sheep with the majority of the light on the backs of the sheep with the shadows on the under belly side similar to the shading on the cut down limbs on the ground. I think this will enhance the dimensionality of the animals. On the fourth image I am working on the canyon. I have to solve some problems with it. The first problem is to give it depth by fading the forms and shading as I move up the canvas. I think I also have to make that bluff above the three animals an independent form by describing a downward line and shading pattern. I am at the stage now where I want basically a circular eye movement in the viewer. That slope will cause the viewer to travel up it into the sky into the tree down to the animals up the canyon walls and repeat the eye movement. This is if the viewer is right eye dominant. If left eye dominant the viewing most likely will be reversed. Either which way the eye movement will capture the viewer into added seconds or minutes in looking at and inspecting this painting. I hope to get some more work done today.

by **Singular** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 1:01 pm

Man, Carl your drawing skills have really improved over the past couple years. Love how this is going.

by **CarlOwen** » Fri Jan 20, 2017 2:15 pm

Thanks Joe, I appreciate your observation and comments. I hope to finish this drawing today. That would make it a total of 24 days to produce this drawing given that I worked on the small drawing four days before the first of January and six days after for a total of 10 days. The midsize drawing took another six days and this one has taken eight days so far. I think I have my presentation of distance in mind, so now it is only the task of doing it.

by **CarlOwen** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:26 am

Good morning. Well I did not finish it. While laying in the canyon bluffs on the left side a open space started to appear on the right side. It caused a shift in my thinking about the canyon description. I think I would prefer to leave that space as open as possible while still describing a canyon scene. I have to research some of my photos to get an idea about how to do it. I only have a few over 800 to review. By leaving that space as open as possible I think the composition will be enhanced by letting the tree be the dominate form in that area. Otherwise, I think the area will become to cluttered with competing complicated forms. So, it's back to some research and mentally reviewing ideas for that space. In the meanwhile these three images are posted for your review on the progress to date.

by **rrsum** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 12:34 pm

Hey Carl, looking great! Can't wait to see some color to start showing up! Looking forward to following this one! Happy New Year!

by **CarlOwen** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:58 pm

Thanks Rich. I finished the drawing today. Will post it tomorrow morning.

by **CarlOwen** » Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:53 am

Good morning. The sun is shining, my gout flare up is down and I look forward to a productive day. Life is good. Posting the finished drawing so there will only be one image. I think I got what I wanted with the descriptions of the spaces to create that spatial concept I was after. The painting part is a whole different matter. We will see what problems pop up that demand a resolution. I don't think it will take me seven years to solve them as it did on another painting I did. Ha! I may or may not have seven years left. I am starting to see the old man's hands creep in on me. Moving on. Hope you enjoy the post. Going to work now.