"Cycling" and "Race": Different approaches to showing their movement

Cycling 14" X 11" Fluid Acrylic
by April M Rimpo

         Cycling

Fluid Acrylic
14" X 11" gallery wrapped and varnish
$375

Available for purchase on my website.

Race 18" X 12" Fluid Acrylic
by April M Rimpo

Race
Fluid Acrylic
18" X 12" gallery wrapped and varnish
$540

Read more about this painting on my website

Race was selected for the Georgia Watercolor Society's 2019 National Exhibition on exhibit 
March 9 through April 26, 2019.

The exhibition is held in:
Bowen Center for the Arts
334 Highway 9N
Dawsonville, GA 30534


Wondering how these paintings evolved? Sometimes you can't really tell when you look at a finished painting where is started from.  I think Cycling falls in that category, while Race is much more obvious. Let take a look.

First I created the backgrounds for the two paintings by spraying water and applying fluid acrylic paint until I had the "netting" background I like to use when painting high energy paintings. My cyclist paintings are nearly always in this category because they are so active when they flying by.

Cycling Underpainting & Drawing

Race Underpainting

You can barely see the warm underpainting that was the beginning of Cycling in the final piece. It evolved through a variety of stages eventually ending up with a fairly dark background of purple, burnt orange, and dark greens to represent the natural treed background. A lighter swath of mostly pale greens and yellows for the grasses by the road that are lit by the sun. Only the drips that cross the road remain from the underpainting.

Race at start of demo

On the contrary, I decided to start by painting the woman in Race allowing some of the underpainting to come through providing the illusion of shadows on her body. I so liked this appearance I shared the painting at the stage shown at left with some artist friends to get their feedback. They all felt the simplicity was perfect and that I should not develop the background further. My intuition had told me the same thing, so it was nice to get validation of my thinking before I went further. 

I continued to work on Race as part of a demo in a gallery where I had a solo show on exhibit.  The images below show me completing some details in the bike and reinforcing parts of her form to get to the final version shown above.



My thanks to Mala Sarkar Sehgal for taking these photos while I worked. 

Refining the bicycle

Nearing the end of the demo

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

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