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Monday 26 November 2012

The story of a canvas ...

Hello everyone,

Another canvas finished. Hurrah! After weeks of being unwell, work piling up and a visit from Ofsted (!), I have finally managed to spend sometime with my paintbrushes. As promised, here is the story of Canvas 3 from start to finish. The painting is now titled 'On the Forest Floor'.



The First Layer
The Second Layer 
The Third Layer 
The Fourth Layer - Black and White.
In the process of outlining the ferns.
The Fifth Layer - Adding imagery and warmth too. 
The Sixth Layer - Adding warmth

the final stages of
'On the Forest Floor'

I had great fun creating this canvas and while painting it, did not really think about the imagery that I was using. Now it is complete, I can see that my teenage travels to New Zealand must have penetrated into my subconscious. When I was in New Zealand, I was fascinated by their prehistoric forests. I have included an image found on Google to give you an idea of what they look like.


This has been a fascinating journey for me and well of out my usual comfort zone and style of painting. I hope you have enjoyed being on the journey with me.

Wishing you a very creative week.

Andy

6 comments:

Stephanie said...

I love seeing the progression of the painting. I'm still stuck on my original two large canvases. They will get done some day soon!

Maria Ontiveros said...

Amazing to see all the different layers and stages. But my favorite part is how you recognized your creative spark in New Zealand.
Rinda

Gittemay said...

It's amazing to see your painting in progress. It looks beautiful.

Frieda Oxenham said...

Great to see all the different stages of the canvas!

alexa said...

I have indeed enjoyed seeing it develop - just admiring your confident use of colour and the way you were able to allow your (subconscious)image to emerge. I always got stuck! The addition of the white really facilitates a sense of depth and layers - just as the photo of the forest shows. Lovely! Are you going to start another? (And well done on surviving Ofsted!)

Miriam said...

Hello Andy, Catching up with you this afternoon.

Glad to hear you throat problems are fixed, I love the fact that your pupils were delighted!! Your drawings of the spices are just gorgeous, what a wonderful talent you have.

The story of a canvas is fascinating Andy, So many layers creating such depth, the finished piece is beautiful.
I don't paint, love to look at it and wish I could, I had no idea about layers, I really did enjoy the journey with you.
Looking forward to more in the New Year.
Hoping you & your wife have a lovely, colourful, artistic and healthy, with voice Christmas

Miriam x