How Long Did It Take? - Answers to Consider

Metal Flashing Detail from By the Old Mill © 2019 April M Rimpo

Artists are often asked "How long did it take you to paint this?" Granted some take longer than others depending on a myriad of factors:

• Even if you are working from your own source photos, there is often research needed about your subject to be able to create a good design.
• Deciding on a color scheme - Color could be driven by the emotion you want to portray or could be influenced by a client's preferences. 
• The amount of detail in the painting - applies to both realistic and non-objective work where details may be more in the realm of textures needed to communicate the thoughts and feelings behind the work.
• In representational painting - the variety of materials you're simulating in your painting - such as metal, brick, cement, wood, glass, undergrowth in woods, rusted tools, a snarl of fallen trees, water, vines, a sprinkling of fallen leaves, pottery, delicate crystal, various types of fruit, clothes, crocheted items, intricate fabrics. The list is endless all requiring different approaches to creating them. 
• How you plan to present the work - framed, gallery wrapped, varnished all require different considerations even before you start the painting.

Detail - Vines growing on brick,
and reflections in windows
© 2019 April M Rimpo

As a result, when asked this question, I may answer with a little bit about the process I used to create the painting, since I suspect that might be more what the person is curious about.  I don't mean a technical description full of words that are understood only by artists, but a more general description.  

I may also talk about the inspiration and what I had to do to be sure the story or emotion of the moment was captured in the painting.

I recently finished a painting with many details and a variety of materials simulated in the painting. As a result, this painting took much longer than many of my paintings, but is that really want you want to learn about the painting?  I don't think so. Much of the time was spent figuring out how to represent each of the materials. 

I've included some detail images of my painting, By the Old Mill, to let you see up close how different each of these sections are. Perhaps less obvious is how different the painting application is to create the look of metal versus brick and vines, water, detailed branches and the illusion of distant undergrowth in the wood.

Detail from By the Old Mill - A Snarl of Branches and Water © 2019 April M Rimpo

Detail - The Illusion of undergrowth in the woods 
© 2019 April M Rimpo

Those who read my newsletter got a sneak peek at the whole painting, but I'm not sharing it widely since I plan to include this painting in an upcoming feature of my work.

If you'd like to learn more, just ask.  

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.

"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.

"Riverwalk Footbridge" 14" X 11" fluid acrylic

Riverwalk Footbridge by April M Rimpo

Riverwalk Footbridge

14" X 11" Fluid Acrylic

in a brushed silver frame

$375

SOLD 

I think reflections in water are among the most beautiful sights in the world, but they can be very tricky to paint. Since I work in watermedia (watercolor and fluid acrylic) I've found layering the colors gradually from the lightest to darkest works best for me.  Before I start to paint I do use a small amount of masking fluid to protect just a few white spots that I may retain as white at the end or kiss with a spot of pale color to give them a slight tint.

Then it's a matter of paying attention to what is being reflected and making sure the reflected color is a bit darker than the real object. I find moving water the most fascinating to paint because of the great swirls and lines created by the current, causing the reflections to be just a hint of what is being reflected.

I chose a double complementary palette for this painting. Complements are across from each other on the color wheel and when combined can end up with lovely neutral colors, but when applied in adjacent to each other they create wonderful tension in the painting, really drawing your eye to those areas. Keeping them vibrant and not blending to become a neutral color can be challenging too. Fluid acrylic makes it a little easier to keep the colors vibrant.

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.

"Reflections III" watercolor 24" X 16"

"Reflections III" by April M. Rimpo

Reflections III"  • SOLD

Fluid Acrylic and Watercolor
24" X 16" image
30" X 22" brushed silver frame

I am always drawn to dramatic reflections in the water, especially on a still lake.  As you can imagine Mirror Lake on South Island New Zealand is known for its reflections.  Per my normal mode of operation I took many photographs of this lake.  I especially liked the one that is the inspiration for this painting, but I knew it needed modifications to make it an interesting painting. What was in my minds eye was more abstract and had a strong rhythmic interplay between the mirror affect in the lake and the foliage along the bank. 

To develop a design I played around with abstractions derived from the photograph, maintaining the textures of the foliage to act as a foil to the fluid color transitions in other areas. Long spikes pushed into the fluid lake with the intent to pull you back into the textural sides and bring them together.  

A spot of texture in the upper left creates some balance with the large mass of texture on the right. White and Pthalo blue are bounced around the painting to provide color cohesion.

To create this painting I used mask to protect the lightest spots, painted a light wash, added more mask when dry, then repeated this process 3 or 4 times gradually increasing the strength of color with each layer.  The photos below show three stages of development.

The left photograph shows the painting after the first layer of mask dried and an initial wash was applied.  Several more layers of paint and mask had been applied when the middle photograph was taken.  At this point there is so much mask, which looks hard when dry, you really can't tell what the painting looks like.  The photograph on the right was taken after I removed all the masking.  Of course it was pretty stark and needed a lot more work.  I did a lot of blending to integrate the hard edges.  I added more darks to get to the stronger color values that I prefer in my art.  To do this now that the mask is gone I use negative painting (where you paint around light areas) to bring in the darkest colors.

What else did I do? 

• I added swirls of color in the fluid area so all the detail isn't on the right side. This included a lot  of dark purples and pthalo green in the water
• The spike got some interesting textural notes and pale color washes to give a sense of depth
• The lower left needed some color to provide a path into the painting
• The right side was given more pthalo blue to balance it with the water
• Splashes of purple were bounced around the painting

I think the transition from the image on the far right to the final painting really made the painting.  Apparently Linda Baker, the juror for the Pikes Peak Watercolor Society International Watermedia 2013 "Legacy", also appreciated the result.  She selected Reflections III for inclusion in that exhibition.    

         

* Contact April regarding purchase outside the United States