Reaching for the Unseen II

A CliffsArt History pic. This was Reaching for the Unseen II. It sold at Common Grounds here in Lexington years ago. It's a Color Pencil piece. Years ago, when painting, I would think about God, The Universe, Spirit Worlds, all the big stuff. I would use drawings from my Nude Drawing Classes for the subjects. Spiritual crazy Metaphysical Paintings. After a couple of years I wanted to focus more on Realism, and it was more challenging. But now I'm thinking of going more Cosmic again. We'll see.

So cold out side, and inside.

Here's a little bit of progress. Honestly, it's been so cold I've stayed under the blankets watching tv most of the week. The hardest part will be to make the grasses look right. In the photo, they are dead, it's Febuary, the grasses are bundled and laying on the ground. I jumped into how I do grasses when they are alive. I realized this when I finished this. How to paint a field of bundled, dead, laying grasses? Painting is a puzzle. I'll figure it out though.

Hello

Here is the first two steps, drawing on the canvas and the painting. The sky is really neat in the photo, but I want to take my time and get it right. This is the first layer, I'm going to let it dry. Acrylics dry fast, but they sometimes need time to dry too. The grass is interestingly Green, considering that this is a Winter scene.

Cliff's Art History

A moment in Cliff's Art History. I painted this back in 2002, or 2003 and was the first Painting I ever sold in the Glories of the Garden exhibit in the UK Arboretum. Not based on any real thing, it was just an interpretation of the Evening Sky. I remember I got the good news in an email, it was one of the first paintings I've ever sold. It was a good size too, 2x4 feet. I forgot I put in the Big Dipper!

Drawing

I'm finishing the current painting but went on and drew a pose for the next painting. I'm pretty excited to start it, it has fields, wind, buildings, trees, fences and Malissa. Oh my!

I've filled out a little more in the shadows of the Painting. I also added some more light coming through  the leaves. I should be done with this one in the next couple of days. It gives me something to do while it's one degree outside. Stay warm everyone.

Blocking in

I've done some more on this painting. After working in Color Pencil for a while it feels good to get back in Paint. In this photo I've mostly just blocked in some areas with Paint. Everything is kind of lose, but I'll tighten it up next and try to make it more realistic. I'll keep some lose elements, maybe in the leaves on the trees.