I start with what is most in the foreground... in this case, it is the paintbrush flowers.  Then, the birch trees.  They were fun.  I love creating shapes with paint and leaving the black underpainting showing through in areas to hint at branches, burls, rough bark and shadows.  



Then, I work on the sky.  It is difficult for me to paint a plain blue sky.  I LOVE the wind, the movement of the clouds and I think that comes through in most of my paintings.  I have observed that the sky is lightest on the horizon and darker overhead and I enjoy painting the gradients of the colour of the sky in sections... each separated by a line of the black underpainting.

Finally, I erase the chalk lines, then add little bits of shape to fill in areas where I feel too much of the black is showing.  I draw the trees down into the foliage with small white shapes, and the lake down as well with the same idea.  

Now, I sign it... and go over it once again, touching up areas that I feel need touching up.  In a couple days, I will add a coat of varnish and I will be done.  

For me, the first step to any painting is a good sketch.  As I sketch, I pull out memories from my mind and they unravel in my sketchbook.  Most of the time, I start with trees.  I explore different types of bark, lines, shapes, foliage etc.  Once in a while, I nail the sketch on the first try, but more often, I sketch until what I see on paper is what I am feeling/seeing inside. 

The next step for me is deciding what background colour I will paint my canvas.  In this case I went with black.  Once I paint the canvas black, I do a very rough drawing of my painting with chalk.  When I say rough, I mean very rough... just an idea of where things should be.  Then I start to paint.

At some point here I decided to add leaves which were not in my original sketch... i like the effect.  Then I painted the lake, and distant mountains.  

The blue I chose for this painting is Cobalt blue... one I do not normally use, but I was wanting to try something other than my usual Pthalo blue.  The greens were mixed from Cad yellow, and Cobalt blue, the purple was straight Dioxazine purple and I needed some white and black to "grey" things down in some areas.  The reds were a mix of Cad. red, and Quinacridone crimson.  

Someone had asked me to paint a dark scene from "Pan's Labyrinth" for them a while ago.  As I thought about his request, I realized that although I really like that movie, painting something dark just isn't what I am doing these days.  I had to turn him down, and as we spoke more I realized he was perhaps not too stable, so I did end up blocking him from my site. :(

So what I am pondering is the whole idea of commissions, and painting things that you know will sell but aren't really you.  I have done a couple commissions.... just small pieces, other times I've talked to people interested in commissions but I must admit I get a bit stressed when they are wanting me to match a certain colour.... or subject matter.  I don't have any horses in my paintings... so when someone asks me to do a painting of a horse... I do get an image in my head but it would most likely not be what they are thinking of.  My horse, would most likely have a daisy hanging out of his mouth, be wearing a hat, and dancing a jig.  :)

I do recognize that it is not easy to make a living as an artist, and that sometimes artists paint what they know will sell.   I am happy painting larger paintings, but I do know that the smaller ones sell more often, and so I will paint to suit at times.  My hope is that no matter what I paint, I will stay true to myself and that my heart and soul, and joy will come through in the painting.  

When I express myself freely on canvas, and someone gets it.. the feeling is indescribable... it is like you have made this special connection.  I like it when that happens.

This week I've been working on a painting called "Bed and Breakfast".  The name came to me while I was sketching it.  A while ago, I painted 2 paintings with birdhouses in them... one was a winter scene and one was a spring scene.  I wasn't aware of how much my husband like those two paintings... i didn't realize he like birdhouses so much.  He plays hockey, watches sports, goes to beer festivals.... and likes birdhouses... go figure.  It became more obvious to me, when... after I had finished a painting, he would ask... "Where are the birdhouses?"..... even if it was a painting of a ski hill...or the top of a mountain.  

So Dan... here are your birdhouses, and I must say... I painted this one with a smile on my face.  I enjoyed it from start to finish.