SOLD!!! Phoenix Rising

I technically sold this back in late 2013! Just now getting around to blogging about it... The owner let me hang it in a show after-the-fact, which was nice.

Little House on the Konza Prairie

Details on this to come in a little bit... In the meantime, I am going to go slap some more paint on this!

Details! So, I feel like I may have come up with a formula for some landscapes that I can then put together as a "body of work" that has the consistency of style which seems to have been a moving target for me up until this point. Don't get me wrong, I have other painterly interests that I plan to continue pursuing (those being pure abstracts, nudes, and sex), but I'm inspired to hunker down and explore this abstracted landscape formula (complete with circles and squares a la my pure abstracts...) and see if I can't "put together a show" in the absence of having an actual show.

The inspiration for "Little House on the Konza Prairie" is part "Phoenix Rising" (seen to the left) and part driving through the Flint Hills on I-70 and realizing I could paint another abstracted landscape but this time with a Kansas/ Flint Hills theme. As I was driving, I started to put together the colors I would use and figure out which stylistic elements to alter from "Phoenix Rising". This will include using the line work to delineate the Flint Hills and actually having land and sky. I plan for the sun to be primary magenta lined with 50% carbon black + 50% primary magenta.

The third painting in this series will be Flint Hills Sunset. The fourth will be a snow-inspired piece. The idea came to me at 6am this morning as I peered out my front window to look at the blanket of snow covering the world. On that note, I should write out my color and shapes plan and acquire another canvas... I mentally planned it this morning, but the memory fades quickly.

This should be fun.

Onward!

After I've become a famous artist, someone will take an x-ray machine to this painting and find this underneath. Or not. If they've read this blog, there will be no need for x-ray technology...

Over the top of the old painting, I applied three layers of Utrecht Artists' Acrylic Gesso (the medium viscosity option). The background is quinacridone violet mixed with roughly eight parts regular gel (semi-gloss), applied with my size 16 flat Bordeaux brush by Royal & Langnickel in a loose manner.

I have plans for this... I'm going to paint a Kansas sunset in the abstracted style of Phoenix Rising. My next step is to mix 50% quinacridone violet + 50% carbon black and draw an undulating Kansas horizon line (with a slightly hard angle, to create intrigue) across the bottom of the painting, then nestle a half setting sun in naphthol red slightly offset to the left. Then let the painting of the sunset begin! I plan to incorporate the following colors: quinacridone violet, c.p. cadmium orange hue, 50% dioxazine purple + 50% cadmium yellow hue (or maybe 50% cadmium yellow medium hue + 50% titanium white = + 50% dioxazine purple), and cobalt teal. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the land itself... We shall see.

Update!!! I did NOT use the above mentioned colors for the rest of the painting. Click here to see the actual color mixing and application details.

Phoenix Rising

I've added some phthalo blue mixed with N6 gray! Previous iteration here.

I Added a Yellow Sun

I found that I didn't like the dingy effect of the cadmium yellow medium hue and N6 neutral gray mixed with emergency chromium oxide green, so I brushed over most of that with 50% chromium oxide green + 50% titanium white and that made it all better.

As you can see, I went with 50% chromium yellow medium hue + 50% titanium white for the sun, which worked out brilliantly. It is lined with 50% chromium yellow medium hue + 50% carbon black. I'm not sure what to do with it next, although I do know that I need to re-enhance the carbon black forking line that cuts through the painting!

Shades of Hmm...

This is mildly haunting...(previous iteration). [Too bad this is such a shit picture (bad lighting). Oh well, I can't go back and re-photograph it because I've already painted more!]

The border (not pictured) is 50% chromium oxide green + 50% titanium white = + 100% N6 neutral gray. This color is repeated in the upper left of the painting, somewhat overlapping the pink background hue in the middle of the canvas.

The pink background color is actually 50% cadmium yellow medium hue + 50% titanium white = + 50% dioxazine purple (basically, each part is 1/3 the total mix, except that the yellow and white must be mixed prior to adding in the purple... if that makes any sense). I then layered a mix of cadmium yellow medium hue and N6 neutral gray with some emergency chromium oxide green mixed in on the upper right area of the canvas, plus a swatch below the red square and the black line. The rest of the background is filled in with a straight mix of 50% chromium oxide green + 50% titanium white [minus the regular gel (semi-gloss)!], which has the effect of somewhat pulling the background into the foreground.

The bright red square is lined with phthalo green (yellow shade), which is kind of fun.

I had some paint pool at the top and had to pull it off with a wet paper towel. I see a vague sun in its place, which I'd like to accent with a new tone, tint, or shade. I'm toying with the idea of cadmium yellow medium hue and titanium white mixed with a little bit of chromium oxide green, but it might make more sense to mix primary magenta and N6 neutral gray... hmm...

Guided by the Canvas

I'm trying to feel this one out. 36 x 48 inches, acrylic on pre-stretched canvas. Details of the paint and media application to come...

Okay, here are the details (September 2, 2013)! First, three layers of Utrecht Artists' Acrylic Gesso (the medium viscosity option) were applied. Second, the background, which consists of 50% chromium oxide green + 50% titanium white then mixed with roughly eight parts regular gel (semi-gloss), was applied with a size 16 flat brush in a loose manner. Part of the paint application failed, so I had to scrape it off before it dried, leaving a blank space with scrapes of residual light green. In said space I pasted primary magenta mixed with roughly eight parts regular gel (semi-gloss) in a very thick consistency. The forking black line that appears below the red square was then painted using carbon black, applied with my big round brush.