Black Star Ranch

One of the aspects that I have been working on in my development as a painter is my mark making in my plein air painting.  I am working on developing enough skill as a draftsman to put it down and leave it alone.  The more I go back into a part of the painting the more time it takes and the more chances are that something can go wrong.  I practice to become better.  Being better means quicker, more accurate, more expressive, and more satisfying to me.

My underpaintings always influence my painting.  The better the match to my mood and the intention of the piece the better the end result.  In this painting there is very little blending due to the strong mark making.  The only blending is unintentional and in areas where colors overlapped when making my marks.  In this painting the underpainting serves as the darkest areas of the painting.  This is not always the case with my underpaintings.  The decision as to whether the underpainting is the highlight color, the complimentary color to the main color in the painting, the middle value, or some other choice are made on site once the subject has been decided upon.