XMAS at Orange Traffic Circle

SCPAPA was supposed to paint in old town orange but I did not see anyone.

The wind was a little crazy.  It changed the way I painted.  I moved everything closer and kept one hand on the painting or easel for most of the day.

I did a sketch to make sure I could fit everything in the painting.

I wanted to do a mixed media painting because I had not brought out the pastels for over a month. I was really focused on the color interaction that I was setting up with the underpainting.

The finished underpainting has a lot of dark grays in it to make the finished colors stand out.  

Here I am working the values, shapes, and colors.  Interaction between all of the elements is the focus of my painting at this stage.

Refinement through small adjustments with a focus on greater definition within each of the shapes in the painting.

The complexity of the painting required me to stay focused and organized on the equal development of all of the parts of the painting.  

By bringing all the parts of the painting together at the same pace I am able to keep the relationships in harmony.

Shapes and proportions had to be changed to make all of the elements fit within the painting.  I had to have the xmas tree, Santa, the fountain, the value interaction between the sky and tree branches, and Chapman fading off into the distance.

Everything has been a gradual build up to the these final decisions about color and finishing details.  Some of these decisions are the logical conclusion to the series of decisions leading me to this moment.

Some of the drawing is wrong and all I can do is clean it up.  I worked from the back to the front of the painting.

The biggest drawing error is not making the fountain pool flatter.  I also struggled getting the range of contrast.  The darks are not dark enough.

The sun moved so fast across the sky.  The lighting was constantly changing.  There has to be a strong focus on the memory of what the scene looked like when you decided how you wanted it to look.

The finished painting Christmas at Orange Circle 24 x 32 plein air mixed media.

The value shot shows some opportunity in the range of values.

The detail shot shows some of the interest created in my mixed media approach.  It also shows the abstract nature of my painting style when you analyze small portions of the painting.