"Cycling Together" 16"X 24" watercolor (Demo video)

 

Cycling Together © April M Rimpo

Cycling Together

Watercolor & Fluid Acrylic

16" X 24" gallery wrapped

As in most of my cycling paintings, my goal is to capture the movement and energy of cyclists. I so admire bicycle riders for their strength and athleticism. When a local triathlon runs through our town I capture them in photographs as they ride by. I love their interplay as they ride in groups, sometimes passing each other on their way by.

Abstracted backgrounds help bring focus to the rider but also augment the sense of speed with which the rider is traversing the landscape.  Cycling Together is primarily a watercolor painting with a small amount of fluid acrylic in the shadows cast by the tree line onto the road.

Below is a video created by Sylvie Carter, who started Art with Sylvie - "Unlocking the journey of artists and their work." Sylvie is an artist in Canberra, Australia who set about interviewing artists in a variety of media and creating videos to share their art. I am honored that she was drawn to my paintings on Instagram and asked to include me and my work in her free videos. This is the second video she created with me where I demonstrate and talk about creating this painting.   

You can see more of Sylvie's Art with Sylvie Free videos on her website at https://artwithsylvie.com/free-videos/  

There are portions of my process beyond what Sylvie included in her video that I also wanted to share. Below is my 25 minute video about creating this painting.

Interested in April's artwork or taking one of her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her weekly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who Select the General Interest topic you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art. Oh, and please be sure to click on the link in a second email to verify your interest in joining my newsletter. Without the verification you will be left in a limbo state where you will not receive my emails and I can't complete the verification on your behalf. If you receive a response that you are already subscribed, email me to confirm and I can send you a different link to update your profile and get the verification email resent to you.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

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.

The Weather Held Out for the Plein Air Event

Just Past Dawn, fluid acrylic on 9"x12" canvas board
by April M Rimpo

Once a year the Columbia Art Center holds a Plein Air Event (paint out) in the Fall.  I love that this event is NOT in the middle of the summer like so many others. I dislike the heat of summer, so I don't consider participating in those events.  We had a tiny sprinkle of rain, but not enough to slow us down.  

Although I arrived thinking I would only do one painting then go home, I did bring a second surface in case I caught the bug and had to do another. I painted this year at Lake Kittimaqundi. The first was fluid acrylic on canvas board. I started it shortly after sunrise and was successful at keeping in mind how it looked at that moment even as the sky, water, and reflections continued to change while I painted.

When I did a plein air painting on Wilde Lake in 2017 I kept falling in love with every change of the reflections in the water and was unsuccessful in sticking to my plan.  I was still happy with the result, but it took much longer to finish that painting since I kept changing it.  You can change the water and not change other aspects of the painting since the sky affects the water reflections, so there is a big ripple effect each time you change the plan.

I scoped out where I wanted to paint a couple days before the event.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and I arrived at noon.  The light was quite different from the day of the event where we started with some blue sky in the east but gradually clouded over to a variety of gray clouds as the day progressed.  Because of the difference in time of day and light, the place I wanted to paint looked quite different, but the view across the lake was wonderful.

By the Foot Bridge, 8"x8" watercolor & fluid acrylic
 on Aquabord by April M Rimpo

The second spot I scoped out for a painting was just to the right of where I stood for the morning painting. All I did was pivot to my right and do the second painting.  It was a fantastic spot. 

For the first hour or so I was alone in that area, with the exception of a few walkers and runners who were enjoying the walking trail. I heard a few people talking who noticed me and recalled the plein air event was that day, but no one came over and talked to me.  Although I enjoyed chatting while painting in 2017, that morning had me so drawn into painting that I was glad to be left in peace to paint.

A couple other artists arrived later but they too were busy creating. It was a fantastic day to be outside, granted with a few extra layers of clothes since mid-October can be cool.  I surprised myself and really considered going out to paint again on Sunday when the day started out with bright sun.  It did turn to rain so I was glad I had not ventured out, but I definitely understand why so many artists do love painting outdoors rather than in the studio. 

Interested in April's artwork or taking one of her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her twice-monthly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who Select the General Interest topic you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register. Select as many topics as sound of interest. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

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.

"Making Tortillas" fluid acrylic & watercolor 30" X 19"

Making Tortilla by April M Rimpo

Making Tortillas 

acrylic & watercolor

30" X 19" image
Mounted and varnished this painting arrives in a 33" X 22" frame

Available for Purchase on my Website

Provenance:

• One of 115 paintings selectd for the Missouri Watercolor Society's 2019 International Exhibition. - See Mike Bailey's Juror's Statement at the end of the post.
• One of 59 paintings selected for the Illinois Watercolor Society's 33rd National Exhibition 2017.
• Selected for the Laurel Art Guild Open 2016
• First Place Award in the Artist's Gallery of Columbia "Color Columbia" exhibition 2015

I have wanted to paint Making Tortillas ever since I returned from Guatemala in 2008. I have considered different color schemes; different focal points; different cropping of my source photographs, but none of the designs satisfied me. Recently I decided to try a different approach to the scene, cropped in closer and using a much more limited color palette.  It was the happiness of this woman and the gesture of her hands as she went about making her tortillas that I decided was the focus.  The beautiful reflected colors in the table top, which had been a distraction in earlier designs, were really not important.  It was the sense of joy she communicated with her expression that really mattered, so what more did I need?  Sometimes finding that quality that drew you to take the photograph is harder to find than you would expect.  Details that you may not have noticed when you took the photograph start to get in the way of that original inspiration.

For the artists in my audience, I started this painting by masking off much of the woman, the white areas, all the orange and red areas, and the light blue fabrics in the baskets. Then I poured on very wet washes of DaVinci fluid acrylic paint, tilted the paper to let the colors run and mix, added some granular light colored watercolor pigments to add interesting swirls and granular patterns, then let the paint dry.  I almost never use a heat gun or drier since I feel the colors are not as vibrant when I use these.

Most of the painting was done using fluid acrylic and small amounts of granular watercolors.  Exceptions were the red flower on her shirt and the orange/red corn in the basket.  I wanted these to be very vibrant.  I find when I use straight acrylic pigments for reds they seem a bit dull, while watercolor reds seem to almost glow. So after establishing some blues where the dark shadows would be, I applied an orange watercolor pigment to create the underlying color. When the watercolor was nearly dry I added some Alizarin crimson acrylic to create darker red passages.  A number of thin washes of Alizarin and some Quinacridone burnt orange were layered over the orange watercolor to create a variety of red shades. Blues and purples were used in the shadow areas and an Alizarin layer was added on top to add definition to the corn. Throughout the piece I repeated the same colors in different combinations and strengths so the painting holds together.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Making Tortillas and your experience with finding and expressing the essence of a photograph that seemed so right at the time, but continue to elude you when you want to express it in your art.

Mike Bailey's Juror's statement: 
Missouri Watercolor Society 2019 International Exhibition I offer greetings and congratulations to all the artists who entered this prestigious exhibition. It is indeed an honor to have been chosen to select and judge this show! I must say, however, that it was a daunting task to select the best pieces from such a large body of outstanding paintings. It truly was, at times, a ‘hair pulling’ decision making process! Most everyone asks about selection criteria and the reasoning behind the choices. I am a design “nerd !” Design is always the driving first thing which presses me to include or exclude any painting into, or out of, an exhibition. Content, or message, or story in a painting will set me thinking in ways that a simply “beautiful” painting would not. The message is very important. There is an overriding condition, which appears in a few paintings, which holds enormous power . . .and that is creativity. This aspect shows how the artist thinks and exposes the artist’s audacity, authenticity and freedom. It, therefore, carries a lot of weight. . . .at times as much, or more, than content. Lastly, expert technique counts for little. That is to say that a well designed painting that exhibits strong content and / or exemplary creativity will win out over poor technique. As an aside, I must admit to sometimes allowing personal taste to enter into the above reasons for judgment. While I try to prevent taste from entering the decision making, my humanness may, at times, unexplainably enter into the final reasoning. To those artists who did not make the cut, you have my sincere empathy while I encourage you to continue reaching for higher levels of artistic achievement. I know rejection can be painful. It can also be the stimulus needed to advance aesthetically. So, press onward and continue entering; it is very much worth your efforts! 

Sincerely, M.E. “Mike” Bailey, AWS / NWS

* Contact April regarding purchase outside the United States

More of my paintings of Guatemala can be found by clicking on the titles listed below:

• Antiguan Drummer
• Incense
• Guatemalan Girl
• Fruit Vendors
• Street in Sololá
• Poinsettia Tree
• Heading to Market - SOLD
• Messengers
• Woman with a Wrapped Hat
• Hammocks
• The Dugouts
• Wash Day
• His Dugout
• Stopped to Chat
• Basket Maker
• Flores - SOLD
• Back Strap Weaver
• Out of the Sun - SOLD
• Guatemalan Family

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.

"Aglow" 14" X 10" fluid acrylic and watercolor

Aglow by April M. Rimpo

Aglow

fluid acrylic and watercolor

14" X 10" varnished and framed

$375 within the United States*

Available through Xanadu Gallery's Online Artist Studio Store

* Contact April regarding purchase outside USA or if interested in the painting without the frame

When sitting in a park (Madison Square Park in NYC) a woman appeared in the distance carrying a parasol to block the bright sun.  As she passed in and out of shaded spots the umbrella would light up like a spotlight.  She was wearing light colors and her hair was blond so she appeared to almost glow against the backdrop of the park. With my camera at the ready I started taking photographs as she walked in hopes of catching a moment when she was lit up by the sun.  I wanted to feature the stark contrast between the glowing woman and the dark textured foliage and fence rails that she passed.   My painting, Aglow, was the result.  

I decided I wanted to make the background very colorful to add a lot of interest since I planned to make the colors of the woman very light and simple. The contrast of light against dark augmented with simple versus complex color blends felt right. 

I chose to use fluid acrylics for the background which I first applied in a few areas and let partially dry before washing off most of the color. This approach leaves a ragged edge "batik-like" appearance that added texture to the background. While the background was very wet, I flowed in a wide variety of colors: blues to make the orange parasol pop, reds, greens, golden, and purple hues that blended and swirled to make wonderful variety in the dark background. The balance of the painting was done with watercolor. I saved some spots of white which I later tinted with pale colors to add a bit of sparkle throughout the painting. 

Follow this link to see other paintings where I combine fluid acrylic and watercolor


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.

"Harvest Time", 29" X 34" watercolor and fluid acrylic

"You can't use up creativity, the more you use, the more you have."  Maya Angelou

Harvest Time, fluid acrylic and watercolor, by April M. Rimpo

Some paintings require time to pass before you come back to them and decide to finally finish them.  This is one of those, but I think it was worth the wait.

Harvest Time

Fluid Acrylic and Watercolor

28" X 32" painting
$2200

Available at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery
Located at Savage Mill in
Savage, Maryland

When out walking near my home in Maryland I got an inspiration for this painting.  I had noticed earlier in the day that a tractor was in a neighbor’s field.  Some of the wheat had been plowed, but most was still in the field.  I decided it was a good opportunity to get some tractor pictures so I took my camera with me.  I had gotten a new zoom lens that went to 300 and thought I would try it out.  After I photographed the tractor I walked past another field where the wheat was right next to the road.  I noticed the beautiful range of gold, blue and green colors in the wheat and took some photos.  While photographing the wheat I thought it would be fun to play with overlaying the tractor on the close-up of the wheat.  This would result in an interesting texture under the tractor.  When I got home I tried it and the design for Harvest Time was born.

I painted the wheat first using fluid acrylic so the wheat pattern would not diffuse when I paint the tractor over the wheat.  The tractor was done in watercolor.  Since the wheat is primarily golden I wanted a blue and purple tractor to create a nice complement to the wheat.  The tractor I had photographed was blue and green, so I replaced the green parts of the tractor with purple.  Not a color that would be typical in a tractor but I believe combining the purple with the blue made it believable and provided an exciting contrast with the surrounding wheat.  

Below are two photographs of the work in progress.  The first shows only the acrylic painting of the close up wheat (Masking fluid still on the painting), the second shows the painting after the tractor was added and the masking fluid removed, but before I have painted on the masked areas to integrate these lighter passages.

Harvest Time WIP: Acrylic  background of
close-up wheat

Harvest Time WIP: After adding watercolor
 combine and
removing much of the masking fluid

Click here to Contact April

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.

"Illumination" 36" X 20" Watercolor and Fluid Acrylic

The development of a painting can take a variety of paths. I generally have a mood I want to communicate which leads me to how I approach the work. However, many things can influence the approach you take to create a piece:

• A workshop you have taken may affect color choices, 
• An experimental painting you've finished gives you new ideas, or 
• A painting video you watched provides a new interesting way to create textures in the background and sparks an idea

Any of these can impact how you tackle a painting you've been planning for a long time but didn't know where to start. 

After Steps 1 and 2

I think all of these events initially impacted how I approached Illumination. With so many different ideas floating in my head I decided to put off the painting for a short time to see what bubbled up as the most important of these inspirations. I have to admit that I decided to discard the video idea for now until I try the approach on a few smaller works. However, some new color possibilities and recent experiments definitely came out to play while I created this painting.

At left is the result of the first two steps of the painting. Step 1 was applying mask over some highlight areas and the background wash.  I applied the colors in a swirly motion so they could create their own fantastic blends and resulted in color "stripes" in the shapes of the structure in which the woman is standing. I worked on her face and some clothing shadows during Step 2. My goal was to establish the focal point and work out the value range for the figure. 
                                                                        

Step 3 of Illumination

Step 4 of Illumination

In Step 3 I developed the lower shaded areas using a color combination I experimented with recently. The color triad for the darks is three grayed mixtures of Alizarin Crimson Permanent, Indigo, and Raw Sienna. Each gray uses one of these colors as the dominant color and the other two were used in small portions to just calm down the blend.

In Step 4, the mass of branches on the right side were fully developed by layering more of the gray blends and a nearly black blend.

Step 5 of Illumination

Although it was another hour and a half of work, Step 5 might look very much like Step 4. In it I added shadows under all the highly lit branches  and more dark shadows in the upper left and upper right. Also completed in Step 5 were the hands of the figure and some more darks on her face. 

Step 6 of Illumination

Step 6 is shown at right.
The painting is nearly complete, except for the branches across the bottom. They need soft transitions between the highlights and the shadows under the branches.

Below is the completed painting, Illumination.  Please share your feedback in the comments below.

Illumination by April M Rimpo

Click here to Contact April

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.

"Grosvenor Arch" 12"X12" fluid acrylic and watercolor

Grosvenor Arch by April M Rimpo

Grosvenor Arch

Watercolor and Fluid Acrylic

12 X 12 X 0.75" deep, wood cradle

$400

Available here for purchase

There are numerous places in the United States southwest where you can see beautiful, red-rock arches, pinnacles, spires, and cliffs. I always find them inspiring and Grosvenor Arch in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah was no disappointment. This painting started as 22" X 14", depicting the full height of the arch, but after some time I decided it is the arch itself that fascinates me, so I decided to rework it in a square 12" X 12" format.  The the focused look brings back memories of a great trip. 

Click here to Contact April

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.

"Freight Yard", 24" X 45" gallery wrapped acrylic and watercolor

Freight Yard by April M Rimpo

Freight Yard

acrylic and watercolor
24" X 45" varnished gallery wrapped paper
$2595

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE

I am not sure what draws me to industrial scenes,  but it is probably the colors and the structure of the equipment.  I didn't want the blue crane to blend in with the sky so I decided to use a golden, gray colored sky.  I love to use red and orange with blue to create tension with this red based analog color scheme. By using very dark values I accentuated the structure of the equipment and the train rail. Contrasting the geometric shapes of the freight yard with the soft sky and wet runs at the bottom of the painting provided an interesting balance between industrial and organic.

Freight Yard is included in North Light Books' AcrylicWorks 4: Captivating Color, best of acrylics. Read the press release for the book here. Below is an image of the cover and page 31, where my painting is included.

April's other industrial paintings include:

• Shipping Port
• Port of Call - NYC
• Streetcar

To see a sample of my prints check my store.

"Summer Breezes" 11" X 14" watercolor and fluid acrylic

Summer Breezes by April M Rimpo

Summer Breezes

Watercolor and Fluid Acrylic

Brushed Silver Frame

Available to purchase on April's website. The standard gallery commission will be provided to HorseSpirit Arts Gallery owners are they work to recover their business following the May 28, 2018 Ellicott City Flood.

Recently included in April's solo exhibit "Contemporary Landscapes" at Columbia Art Center you can now find this painting at HorseSpirt Arts Gallery in Historic Ellicott City, Maryland. 

You might have noticed that Summer Breezes was done in watercolor and fluid acrylic. It started in watercolor only and matured quickly. The result looked too washed out for my liking and sat in my studio for months. Recently, I pulled it out of a stack of unfinished paintings and decided to work on it some more. 

I decided that the first thing I would try was adding a very dilute layer of acrylic over the sky and water. I wanted to see whether bumping up the color intensity of the painting would speak to me. Well it worked. A combination of Cerulean blue and a cobalt violet blend I had been using for another painting made things start happening, so I immediately added some Cadmium Orange (hue) in the water reflections to make those more intense as well.

Those changes were enough so I printed out a new copy of my photo reference and went to work adding in details and intensifying the value contrast throughout the painting. There is nothing like a change in value to add dimension to a painting.

I also pushed the color in a few areas to add life and to provide more color balance throughout the piece. It is surprising how sometimes it only takes a couple hours to really turn around a painting.

Contact April here

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.

Rimpo 2016 All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

April M Rimpo Video of "Summer in the City" Exhibit

I'm to happy with my exhibit at Artists & Makers Studios. The work really came together nicely as a tribute to cities across the United States. For those who have not been able to see the exhibit in person, here are all the paintings in the exhibit.  

If you have an opportunity to visit Artists & Makers at 11810 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Maryland you will love them in person. The lighting is perfect and really makes them pop.

You should also visit my Urban Gallery on my website to see some of these and additional urban paintings.

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 2016 All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

Featured Art - "Freight Yard"

This month's featured art on display at RE/MAX Advantage Realty is Freight Yard.  When I first visited RE/MAX to see the space and decide whether to exhibit there I was inspired by the industrial feel of the building with brick walls, tall ceilings, exposed ductwork and I-beams. I immediately knew that my industrial themed paintings would be perfect in this setting.  Freight Yard immediately came to mind and definitely had to shown here.

I learned this week that this painting has also been selected for inclusion in North Light's Best of Acrylics book, AcrylicWorks4: Captivating Color, so I thought this was the perfect painting to highlight from the RE/MAX exhibit.

Freight Yard by April M Rimpo

Freight Yard

24" X 45" fluid acrylic

varnished and gallery wrapped

Original $2595
Giclee Prints also available


AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE

If you would like to see the painting, you can stop by RE/MAX Advantage Realty, 729 East Pratt Street, Suite 100, Baltimore MD 21202, and say you are there to see April Rimpo's artwork. All purchases are made through April, so contact her if you have questions or would like to meet at RE/MAX. 

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 2014 All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution, but all other uses are prohibited.

White Crane - Day 29 of the #jan30in30 Challenge

White Crane by April M Rimpo

White Crane is a rework of an older painting, originally titled "White Egret", but given its make-over I decided the new title was more appropriate, pun intended. My Apple Clock painting was so fun I decided to take a similar direction. Adding the gears, pistons, and paper wings were not the only changes.  While I was at it I added more pastel shades in the shadows and improved the contours of the bird. I think this make-over resulted in a better painting than I had before. If you ever feel you need to do something to improve a painting, don't be afraid to go way out of the box.

The image above shows the cropped painting after it has been gallery wrapped. The final painting will be 14" X 11" with a 1" gallery wrap depth.

White Crane

Fluid Acrylic and Watercolor

14" X 11" gallery wrapped and varnished paper

$375

Available for Purchase Here

I have to thank Leslie Saeta again for holding this challenge since I might not have tried this had I not had 28 prior days of experimentation under my belt. Go to her blog to see the other paintings done by all the artists participating in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  #jan30in30

"Fresh Snow" 24 X 24" watercolor and fluid acrylic

Fresh Snow by April M Rimpo

Fresh Snow

Watercolor and Acrylic

24" X 24" varnished and gallery wrapped paper

Available on my website

I've always found snow scenes intimidating, but decided to rise to the challenge this year and give it a try.  A fresh snow gives me a sense of calm, provided it is not so deep that I have to go out and shovel it for hours.  I thought back to all the lovely colors I'd been using this year and selected some that I thought had a calming effect on me and thought about which ones would be a good way to capture the light.  

Much of painting snow is really capturing the light since the snow is "white" and is a perfect surface to allow you to see it. Currently we have no snow on the ground so I went back through photographs I have taken the morning after a snow fall and really concentrated on the colors in the snow.  And there they were pale yellows, lavenders, and warm blues.

About a week after completing this painting I was fortunate to attend a talk by Lee Boyton, who studied painting the light with Henry Hensche at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown, MA. According the Lee's bio "Henry opened Lee's eyes to the poetry of using color to capture the subtle and ever-changing effects of light." During Lee's demonstration I found out that what I had stumbled upon in this painting was part of the philosophy of the American Impressionists and what was taught at the Cape School of Art.  I think the concept Lee portrayed in his demonstration is one I am innately drawn to and will definitely pursue this more in my work. 

"Struggles in the Sourthwest", 24" X 34" gallery wrapped fluid acrylic on paper

Struggles in the Southwest by April M. Rimpo

You may remember my June blog post called Pouring Paint, about a workshop I had taken from Linda Baker.  During that workshop I painted Harder Times which was a close up of one grave in Mission Tumacácori.  I designed Struggles in the Southwest earlier but decided it was too much to tackle in a workshop and went with the simpler version. I visited Mission Tumacácori sometime in the 1980s as part of my explorations of Arizona. After moving to Arizona in 1980, my husband and I continued to explore many National sites with Indian ruins during our 17 years in the state.  One of my interests, in fact my initial major in college, was archaeology, so visiting these sites allowed me to catch a glimpse of the past.  To learn more about this Mission visit the National Park Service site.

Like Harder Times this painting was poured, but with fluid acrylic instead of watercolor. Below are a few images showing steps in creating this painting.

Value Sketch

I generally start each painting with a drawing of the outlines of the shapes in the painting, but this one was complex enough that I decided to do a value sketch. The purpose of a value sketch is to work out the darks, mid-value, and lights in the painting. I admit I went beyond a value sketch and toward a much more complete drawing. However this was done on tracing paper to allow me to more easily transfer the drawing to watercolor paper.

The image at right shows the result of the first pouring of acrylic paint.  The acrylic was poured after I transferred the drawing, then masked areas I wanted to keep white. The first pouring uses the lightest colors in the painting, filling the role of the lightest mid-tone.  To accomplish this with acrylic, the pigments are very diluted with water.



When the first layer dries, more masking fluid is added to some areas where I want the lightest mid-tone.  A second pouring is done that has nearly the same amount of water mixed with the paint. Since it is on top of the first layer of color, it looks darker.  I added more blues to the second pour allowing them to mix with the Quinacridone Coral pigment to create lovely lavender shades in areas where there are shadows.

In this third process photograph I have added a few darker areas and, when the paint dried, I removed the masking.  

Notice the golden tan stripe along the left edge.  After I gallery wrap the painting over a stretcher frame, the stripe will be on the edge of the painting. Sometimes I run the image around the edge and sometimes I use color stripes.

    

This last photo was taken after several touch-up sessions. A variety of dark colors is added in the darkest shadows under the rocks and more color to the crosses. A great deal of work was done on the rocks to blend some of the dark edges and to emphasize the twigs and grasses in the sand around the stones.

There was a small amount of additional touch-up to finish the painting after this image was taken.  The finished painting in the top image shows just the front of the painting after gallery wrapping.