 “Threshold of Glory” acrylic on cradled Gessobord • 18 x 36 inches private collection, Riverside, California I haven’t published any step-by-step posts in a while; I always love seeing other artists’ processes, so I’m determined to do this more faithfully here in my blog!  I start by going over my pencil sketch with a sketch of caput mortuum violet and Prussian blue acrylic. It almost looks like a snow scene here at the beginning.    Now I start adding color glazes, trying to be patient as I add each layer to build up deep, rich color in the final painting.  Sometimes it’s really hard to be patient because I’m so excited about getting to where I think the painting is going to end up.  I should know by now that a painting hardly ever ends up like I imagined it. That’s part of the FUN!  Here’s where I started getting bold about adding color to the sky. I went way bolder than I needed to, knowing that in the next layer ...  I would calm it way down, but loosely, letting glimpses of that beautiful fuchsia and rose peek through. But now I started getting bogged down in the details of the trees, getting way too nit-picky, and I started to really dislike where the painting was headed: hurling headlong into the realm of “overdone” ...  ... so I told myself to “put down the brush and step AWAY from the painting.” And here’s where it stayed for several days, even a week or two. I did other paintings in between, trying to loosen up and stay away from too much detail. And I went and studied other paintings that I love, making mental notes on what exactly it is that I love about them. Almost always, the ones I liked best had a loose, almost abstract quality that was very interesting to me. Then I came back to this with renewed enthusiasm, never even referring to my original photo, did a lot of simplifying of trees and water, et voilà! Finished it in one joy-filled morning. After I finished, I felt as if I had had a “Helen Keller at the water pump” moment ...
It was like, “Ooooohhhhh ... NOW I get it!” Happy painting!
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Books. Cats. Life is good. EDWARD GOREY  Dreaming in Color III: Impressions oil on Gessobord, 2013 NOTE: At the bottom of this post is a video showing the step by step transition from initial sketch to final painting. Our Ray was an expert napper. I have dozens of photos in the archives in which he demonstrates his napping skills in a wide variety of locations and positions. Looking back, I think I would have to say that his favorite sleeping places contained books. Sometimes a single volume, sometimes a stack. Read more to see my step-by-step painting photos and commentary:
A kitten is the delight of a household. All day long a comedy is played out by an incomparable actor. CHAMPFLEURY  Hidden Treasure
acrylic on Gessobord, 2013 NOTE: At the bottom of this post is a video showing the step by step transition from initial sketch to final painting. The following is a step-by-step I wrote for my original blog in 2016, repeated here by request. Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words! BETTY SMITH  The Joy of Reading
acrylic on cradled Gessobord, 10 x 8 inches, 2016 |
AuthorChrist follower, artist, writer. Living in a woodsy rural area of north central Louisiana. I love to paint, read, write, and walk in the woods with my dogs. The cats usually stay home and hold down the fort (or maybe have wild parties) while we're out on these adventures. Archives
August 2025
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