Busy Day in the Kitchen

Today was a day of much progress in the kitchen...not MY kitchen, unfortunately.  I actually mixed several grays for the pot and the chef's pants.  But, one of the more time consuming things was mixing a batch of skin tone (probably should have done that a while ago, but I worked in small amounts on the palette before).  Now, I have a lot of a good base that can be tweaked a bit, depending on the figure.  I know I'll have some touch-up as I go back through the panels with detail. 

I'll definitely have to touch-up the chef as I need to rework the background around him.  There really isn't enough contrast between the background yellow and the fleshtone.  I'll probably mix the yellow with a touch of white to help create more contrast, but also because the yellow is so transparent, it doesn't cover anything!  So, sketchy pencil lines are still visible after several coats, not to mention painted lines that are no longer needed.  That's why you see patches of white around the figure - those are areas that needed to be covered (the big splotches of white, however, are future vegetables - and there'll be a lot more of them).

I always like seeing the panel in a photograph because "issues" are clearly visible (they're not as obvious when you're staring at the panel close-up).  My goal isn't necesarrily to have a completely anatomically correct figure - especially since the chef is quite a "character" - but there are often things that bother me and seeing a photo often helps me identify them.  Oh, and I know he only has half of a mustache.  No point in painting the other half until the background gets reworked.

Again, details will be adjusted and sharpened - but you get the idea.

Chef Study

The latest work in the garage involved a study of the chef.  After drawing and painting the original proposal, tracing/adjusting the figure on the panel, and now drawing and painting the study, I went back and looked at the chef in my sketchbook.  I did this when I was just playing around and brainstorming.  Drawing is more my strength and the sketch is much looser and fun. 

Original sketchbook "brainstorm" for the chef

The biggest difficulty and motivation behind the study was to figure out the right hand gesture.  But, since the study is small, I can only work out so much.  I kind of wish I'd gone back and looked at the sketchbook designs before I started painting - I might have taken the figures in a slightly different direction.  But, I also know that I'll always find something to second guess myself and I'm better off letting go of some things and letting the painting develop as it will (for sanity reasons).  The truth is that I'm learning a lot every day that I'm out there painting.  And, it's far from done - much more detail and "whimsy" will follow.

Photocopy of chef panel used in the projector and recent color study

My biggest lesson on this panel is the realization that the yellow that I purchased (which I chose because it was the most lightfast and permanent version of the yellow I needed) is probably the most transparent paint I picked up.  That explains why I've gone through more of it than any of the other paint colors.  It takes a lot more of it to cover anything and to create the mixtures that I've used for the various foliage.

In the past, I've had frustration with acrylic paint in general - mainly, the short drying time making which meant I had to remix colors frequently and the fact that it dries a slightly different color than it goes on.  But, with the Nova Color paints, the Sta-Wet Palette, and all the time spent working on this project, I can safely say that acrylics and I have made peace.  In fact, I plan to work with acrylic paint for more of my future illustration projects.

Seeing Yellow - Lots and Lots of Yellow

The nice thing about working on panel 5 is that it's a nice break from the multitude of detail on panel 4.  I covered a lot of real estate this evening just by working on the background.  The downside, however, is that because I was working a little red into the yellow for texture, I had to work without stopping in order to blend the colors before they dried completely.  And, since it was a larger area, I was using larger strokes...I feel alright right now, but I think my arm will fall off tomorrow morning.

Thought y'all might be interested in seeing more of the panels in one shot.  Since I don't have room to put all of the panels side-by-side, you'll have to fit them together in your mind.

At the end of it all, I will have to move certain panels together in order to finish them properly.  They're quite heavy, though.  So, I'll complete everything, do a little rearranging, and then finish off those objects that cross panels.

Rounding the Corner...

Well, I've finally made it into panel 5 (and it's turned against the side wall of the garge - hence, turning the corner)! 

Just started mapping out the floor tiles and fixing some proportions.  While the projector was incredibly handy, working from a very small original painting means that little distortions are increased in my tracings - mole hills become mountains.  So, some adjustments to the chef are necessary.  Also, the floor tiles are taking a little bit of time to get a sense of fairly balanced visual perspective without being overly hard-edge and mechanical.  But, I'm enjoying working on something different for a while.

The toasting figures are in a good place for now - I'm content with the direction that they're going.  I was not able to capture much detail in the original proposal because the scale was too small, so I've been making them up as I paint.  I'm not working from any models either - they're basically imaginary composites.  

Moving Along (...at last)

It was nice to spend a good chunk of time on the mural today after a VERY busy weekend (which included a girl's craft party at my house, Artist Reception at Town Center Gallery, Pinewood Derby at church, 2 kid soccer games, 1 whirlwind trip to LA for an MLS Galaxy pro soccer game, Sunday church service, a birthday party...you get the idea)

So, after the girls got started on their schoolwork, I was able to sneak out to the garage and get back to the "Cheers" panel.  As you can see, much was accomplished, although a lot is left to do.  However, I think I've gotten a good enough first layer of detail to move on to panel 5 for a while.  I'm looking forward to working on something besides grapes and using some different colors.

I like how the barrel turned out - it's always exciting to
see the image building with every detail.

Now, if you're keeping score of changes made to the original design, you'll notice another one here.  The male figure had a slight costume change - he traded in his brown jacket for a dark navy-ish one.  I never really liked the brown one in the original design as it seemed like there was just too much brown goin' on.  I knew I wanted to have him in blue jeans, so my fashion-forward teenage daughter suggested this color.  Works for me!

Roll Out the Barrel...

Yes, that's right.  Today, the barrel table and stray grape were the focus of my attention.

If you looking close, there's one of those annoying crane flies sitting
on the table near the man's sleeve - the joys of painting in a garage at night.

There's so much to do in this panel and a lot of it required some changes - I knew that going in.  I'm down to the figures and I fully expect to get thoroughly wrapped up in those details for a while.  I did adjust the woman's arm this evening (which I noticed was freakishly long).  I've also moved the man's leg back (not shown in picture) - it seemed to be uncomfortably tucked under the table and the overlap of the pants and the barrel seemed awkward.

99 Clusters of Grapes on the Wall..

99 clusters of grapes,

You take one down, pass it around...

Guess I'll be painting more grapes on the wall!

(oh the things you think of when doing repetitious work)

The red and purple grapes are more developed at the moment, but the green grape clusters and the grape leaves have to be addressed still.

I've actually been taking some time to work out more detail at the moment and, honestly, my jury is still out on Dionysus - I go back and forth between liking him and not liking him.  I actually had something a bit different envisioned originally - something more sculpture-like and not "fleshy."  But this is what came forward in the study and I liked it. I'll have to get more of the panel done and see it as a whole - guess that's why I've been compelled to do a bit more detail beyond just the underpainting.  Plus, there's just a lot of little things in this panel and I want to make a good dent in it.

Greetings From ...Somewhere Else

I guess there's an alternate universe in my garage.  It's full of giant strawberries and grapes, and in this place, there is no time.  I step out here to do a little painting and the next thing I know, it's midnight!  For a little while, I was joined by husband, Smitty, and the youngest kidlet (who are now asleep).

That's Smitty on bass and Lindy (the pirate) on tennis racket.

I'm glad the weekend is here because the 4th panel will require some time - lots of grape leaves and clusters of grapes and figures for which I have not mixed any paint colors yet.  I knew the people would slow me down - as an illustrator, I've always been able to take liberties with the way I depict subjects like people.  But, I don't want to go too cartoony for the mural - the composition is already rooted in fantasy, and I'd like it to have a foot in reality.



Study for mural - some adjustments to be made, but you get te idea

Soooooo, I've been working on some small studies beforeI tackle the certain characters or scenarios.  This evening, I spent time on the Dionysus character - the Greek god of wine and winemaking (or Bacchus, if you happen to be Roman).  He's the guy up in the trellis among the grapes (in case you were wondering).  I haven't done a lot of figurative painting in a looooong time and I need to brush-up on my color mixing when it comes to flesh tones, highlights, and shadows.

Thanks to the person who invented this - I have now made peace
with acrylic paints.

I also wanted to try my Masterson Sta-Wet palette that I got for when I'm working on detail work and don't need to mix containerfuls of paint.  One of the things that has always driven me nuts about acrylic paint is how quickly it dries and how I constantly seem to be remixing paint (I used oils in college - they stay wet forever).  Well, so far the verdict is AWESOME.  I never once had to remix a color because it had dried to uselessness in the (apparently) many hours I worked on this.

Solving Problems...

I'm REALLY glad that the mural is being painted on panels which allows me to work in the garage around my schedule during odd hours!  I don't feel rushed, yet I feel like I'm still getting things accomplished (even with daytime demands).

This evening, I played around with the grape colors, bringing them closer to what I want.  I still need to build up layers and values.

Before

After

I also worked out a couple of issues with the figures - particularly the man.  I dealt with the NCS, or Narrow Chin Syndrome, as well as the Big-Footitis that he suffered from.  He really had too much heel - the heel was more profile while the front of the foot was more 3/4 view.  Anyway, he's been healed - Hallelujah!  (And "heeled," I guess).

Back to Work...

After a wonderful Easter Vacation where I was able to spend big chunks of the day working on the mural, an unexpectedly extended trip out of town and the start of schoolwork again makes it feel like I've been away from the mural for a long time.  We found out as we drove into Lancaster (after 4 hours in the Friday downpour) that all the State Cup games had been moved from Saturday to Sunday - soooooo, since we were already there, we ended up staying longer than planned.

Not quite there...but closer.  Photos can help you see
flaws that you didn't notice when you were working on it

Today, I had a full day of CoOp, art classes, mom-taxi, and dinner-making, but I was determined to get out to the garage and at least make some adjustments.  In my last post, I explained how the scale of the toasting figures was a bit on the wimpy side.  So, this evening I figured I'd start reworking the proportions.  Not only did the figures have to change, but so did the barrel.  To understand the changes made, if you look at the male figure, the top point of the hair of the original guy fell just below the jawline of the current guy.  In other words, he gained a whole head in height.

Cheers - his chin's a bit skinny, but I'll fix that...

It's very "cartoon-ish", but I'm just trying to get the shapes the way I want them.  It's not quite there, but it's closer than it was.  And, having to draw this out REALLY made me appreciate the projector I had at the beginning. I was constantly stepping back to see how it actually looked and it made me wonder how Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling - it's not like he could easily take a step back every few minutes to see if the proportions were right.  And, he did not have the luxury of a projector to transfer his design.  My hat is definitely off to those Basilica-painting masters!

Growing and Changing...

There wasn't as much time to work today as I had an art class to teach and we're getting ready to go out of town again.  What I did do today was focus on panel #4 and some changes that I wanted to make. 

Figures are about 1 foot taller than before

The first thing that was bothering me was the scale of the toasting figures.  I like to sit back and observe (analyze) what's in front of me - what I've done and what I have yet to do.  The figures looked fine in the smaller proposal painting, but something didn't seem quite right on the full-size panels.  They seemed kind of wimpy and small.  I felt that they needed to be more of a presence in that panel.  So, part of today's work involved "growing" the figures.  Since I didn't have any mushrooms from Wonderland, I had to redraw them, adding about a foot to their height.  I think it was a good call.

In my original design, the grapes were dark purple (like Concord grapes) and green.  But, with all of the green leaves and veggies, I decided to change the green grapes to red.  This required a field trip to the produce department at the grocery store to study the color of red grapes.  Upon close inspection, there are a lot of colors happening in red grapes - purple, reddish purple, and even green.  I've mixed some color options but, they're not quite right...yet.  So, know that what you see is NOT what you will get.

A Strawberry Day...

This has certainly been a productive couple of days with many hours in the garage - looks like I'll have one more fairly full day tomorrow (with time out to teach an art class in the afternoon).  Then, it's off to the next round of State Cup games out of town followed by back-to-school Monday.  I have to say that it sure has been nice to just focus on this project for at least a little while.

I had a little help today - my daughter Joley really wanted to paint something.  There really isn't much for someone else to come in and do, but I let her lay down a base coat of yellow on the girl's dress and the strawberry blossoms.  

Much of today was spent working out the strawberry leaves - there was A LOT of overlapping shapes and values to work out - very time consuming (but, then again, I love detail work).

I'm still figuring out the greens.  I wasn't happy with the cauliflower and broccoli - much too blue once I got the warmer strawberry and grape leaves in there.  I always tell my students that color is relative - you may think it looks a certain way until you put more colors next to it.

Venturing Into Panel #3...

While I continue to play around with the layers in the first two panels, I've also been laying in base colors on the third panel.  Things have slowed down a teensy bit because of time off to celebrate Easter, but also because color needs are a bit more demanding. 

The first couple panels depict a scene we're all familiar with here on the Central Coast - a John Deere in the midst of rich brown soil and green hillsides.  There will be a little more color added in this part, but the limited color is intended for a sense of calm, familiarity, and contrast with the energy that's in the rest of the mural.



Each container is labeled with the different colors
used to mix that particular color

However, as I enter the "celebration" part of the mural, you can see that my collection of color mixtures is growing quickly.  For every color you see on the panels, there are usually 3 or 4 versions of it ranging from dark to light.  I'm also trying to mix a quantity of each color so that I won't run out right away.



Going for more bluish leaves on the cauliflour wave to stand out agains the warmer
green hillside and the green crops that will eventually be in the fields.

Today, I spent a bit of time playing with greens.  I have many different greens in this part of the painting - cauliflour leaves, broccoli, grape leaves, a strawberry plant...some are bright, others deeper, and still others, bluish.  Catch a wave...

Looks Can Be Deceiving...

Things are moving along smoothly and there's a lot more color on the boards now.  My family comes out to the garage and comments on how quickly this is going, but it's not as far along as they may think.

BUT, while it appears that a lot has been accomplished, it is really just an underpainting - the first layer of what will probably be many.  I'm getting a sense of color and developing forms before I go back through and build up the details, depth of value, etc.

So, the road ahead is a lot longer than it may appear.

Let the Painting Begin...

Well, we're back from Escondido and the first round of State Cup (the girls placed 2nd and move on to the next round - Go Crusaders).

Once I recovered from the loooooooong car ride, I began mixing some paint colors - I like to have a dark, a light, and a mid-tone on hand when I work.  I'm starting with the sky and mountains.

The paint is going on nicely - can't wait to see how it all comes together.