Anthony Salvo Paint Out at Big Bend with LPAPA

When I pulled into the parking lot in Laguna, Anthony had already been painting for 45 minutes.  He did a really small sketch to work out some of the composition issues. 

He talked about warming up before the painting.  He talked about how to hold the brush and how he loosens up before the real painting begins.  I do the same thing when I do a quick sketch before I start painting.

He spoke about how he builds the painting.  He uses a viewfinder with a grid on it.  He sketches directly onto the viewfinder.  He then paints a grid on his surface and uses that to keep on track with the design of the painting.

Anthony spoke about using the grid to make sure that the area of interest does not fall into the middle of the painting.

Anthony is an advocate of using a paper towel to wipe down areas to accentuate the composition building.  He will also wipe out an area in the beginning stage if he makes a mistake.  He works to leave some of the under painting visible in the final painting.

The SCPAPA members in attendance.

Anthony then went on to use his paper towel to indicate the light upon the objects in his painting.  From there he continued to develop his painting.  The itch to paint was too strong so I stepped away to start my painting.

Here I am indicating the large shapes and the darker values within those shapes.  I am committing to the shape of the composition.

Here I am working to create the separation of the background from the foreground.  I am trying to get the values right in the hill so that I will be able to convey a true sense of distance in the painting.

As I move through the painting I am working to lighter and lighter values.  In this picture I putting down the middle values.  I am trying to let the dark value shapes stay undeveloped.  The reason for this is that as I add the lighter values there is a tendency to shrink the darker shapes within the painting.

In this shot you can see that I am continuing to work lighter and lighter.  I am also elaborating on the detail of the major shapes within the painting.

SCPAPA members painting.

I removed the dowel at the top of easel to work on the top of my painting.  I forgot to put it back onto my panel and...the wind blew. When that happens you wonder how bad it is going to be.

There was very little dirt or smearing when I picked it up.

At this point in the painting I am working all over the surface.  I am adjusting colors, values, shapes, and edges.

The finished painting plein air oil on board 24"X32".

The value shot shows the range of values within the painting.  Did I get the lights as light as they should be?  This is currently one of my focuses.  The greater the range of values within the painting the more dramatic the color.

The detail shot.  Here you can see the brush strokes within the painting.