Design House

I got a call at home from a client that I have worked with for the past five or six years.  Beth is the owner of a full service interior design business.  Every year she offers her service as a fund raiser for the Orange County Philharmonic Orchestra.  Beth had her assistant reach out to me to see if I was interested in loaning a piece of art for the project.  Beth was interested in a seascape with muted tones in mushroom and various tan colors.  She wanted to know if I had anything like that.  It has been several years since I had created any pieces like that so I volunteered to create a piece specifically for the project.  It was a hazy morning with a chance of fog at the beach.  Jessica (Beth's assistant) said they needed the piece asap.  I asked for any color examples for the project.  Jessica said she would email them to me.  I had painted Rockpile Beach the day before. I went there again for the project because it was fresh in my muscle memory and it seemed like it would provide the color palette needed for the project.

Because this piece was going to be framed on short notice, I decided to paint on Wallis paper instead of working on a board which is what I usually do when I am painting plein air.  My plan was to do a water color under painting followed by a pastel over painting.  The piece was going to be large for a quick turn around but I like challenges.  The piece before framing was going to measure 24"X 36".

To speed up the process, I tried something different.  Instead of doing a sketch and then working up a water color based on the sketch, I did the sketch directly on the paper.  Because water color can be relatively transparent I worked to insure that the sketch would be visible when I applied the water color.  This added structure to the painting process was intended to speed up everything.  

Design House

These were the samples that Beth had for her design house project. Orange County Philharmonic Society Design House

This was the concept drawing for the project.  Beth was one of the 19 elite designers invited to participate.

Design House

Here you can see my initial water color application.  As you can see I am focused primarily on the shadows.  The sky, water, and beach have a light wash to use as a reference point for the highlights in the painting which have been left unpainted.  When the darkest areas are fully established, I will then work on the highlights.  If I move into the highlights too quickly the relative values will be inaccurate. 

Because I am working on sanded paper, pencil really produces some dramatic results.  This new tool I bought was amazing on the sanded surface because of the size of the lead it uses.  It is called an enviromental and is made by Greta.  My only concern, as with all art supplies I love is will there be a continued supply of this unique size lead.

Design House

This is the finished painting.  It measures 24"X 36",  From the time I got the call about participating in Design House till the time the painting was delivered to the framer was 48 hours.

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Trees In Peters Canyon

I really liked the eucalyptus trees along the southern entrance to Peters Canyon.

I knew I would be painting this composition and I picked this board color to accentuate the colors I saw in the trees.

This was an unusual composition for me.  I had to be careful to get the treeline right.

Trees In Peters Canyon

Before I work to the lighter values, I work to develop the deeper color values.  At this time I am thinking about how the final color additions will look against the underlying color.

Now the colors begin to lighten and become more complimentary.

All of the areas work against and with each other.  There is an overall adjustment process now.  A change in one area has to work with the other areas.  Small adjustments are evaluated by comparing it to all the other parts of the painting.  This is the most exciting part of the painting process.  It sets up the final moves which more or less are dictated by this moment.

Trees In Peters Canyon

Building the color relationships between the different areas of the composition is finalized here.

The focus turns to finalizing each area of the painting while keeping balance between them.

From the trees along the edge to the trees in the background I then moved to the ground and then the ground in shadow.

Trees In Peters Canyon