The Last Peony WIP

[Mike_Beeman]

This is a project I did for my class a few days ago so they could follow the transition or work in progress of a pastel from start to finish.
This is a 9" x 12" done on a RTX240 pastel support...great surface for those who haven't tried it.
Pastels used were Terry Ludwigs, Great Americans, Rembrandts and NuPastels
Sorry you have to follow this from the bottom up:)

"The Last Peony"
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwc8.jpg

Established some of the darks and lights...working all over the place
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwc7.jpg

Oops....got the cherub in the wrong place so I scraped it out with a palette knife and redrew it in lightly with a White Carb Othello pastel pencil...also drew a little of the shapes for the grapes and leaves.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwc6.jpg

More of the same!
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwc5.jpg

Started establishing the darks in the background, the cherub, grapes and the peony...trying to remember to keep the shapes simple and my edges soft.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwc4.jpg

Looking for large shapes of local color, I started to block in the major shapes with very little detail and soft edges.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwc3.jpg

The second stage, I used a stiff brush with some water to scrub the pigment into the paper...loved the effect of this.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwipwc2.jpg

Started with a 9" x 12" Rtx240 pastel support first blocking in several hard and soft pastels to give me a general feel for the basic light and dark passages.
Pastels used were Terry Ludwigs, Great Americans, Rembrandts and NuPastels.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/01-Feb-2009/49603-cherubwip1wcb.jpg

[Tracy Lang]

Mike,
WOW, thanks for the awesome WIP!!! I am such a huge fan of your work and always know I'm in for a treat when I see one of your threads...this is a treat with a cherry on top!!!

Tracy

[water girl]

Mike,
Thank you for sharing your process. I am not familiar with your support. Can you tell me a little more about it. Do you work from life? photo? or a combination? This is just a beautiful painting.

[Orchidacea]

OOOH, Mike, I just love your WIPs!!! They always get me so inspired!

[Mike_Beeman]

Tracy...I believe I may have first read about Rtx240 in this forum a few years ago and wrote the company for some samples.
it's distributed by:
Rtistx International, Inc
7207 114 th Avenue N, Building F
Largo, Fl. 33773
877 478 4789
Check out their site:
http://www.rtistx.com/artist_review.htm

Watergirl
This is done from a still life set up in the studio...check out the above link for info on the supprt!
Appreciate your interest!

Mike,
WOW, thanks for the awesome WIP!!! I am such a huge fan of your work and always know I'm in for a treat when I see one of your threads...this is a treat with a cherry on top!!!



Tracy

[Tom Christopher]

A truely Beautiful piece Mike--a winner in so many ways ..tom

[DAK723]

Wow, great stuff! It is always amazing to see how many different ways there are to paint a painting! None of my paintings has ever been started in any way even similar to this - of course, they don't look like your's at the end either!

Beautifully done!

Don

[Colorix]

Mike, thank you so much for the WIP! Extra good to show that changing something is relatively simple. Love the free-ness and beauty!

Charlie

PS I rated the thread

[kentiessen]

Nice demo, Mike! I really like stages of #4 and #5 in their unfinished state- simple handling indications, and great color.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/02-Feb-2009/130333-45.jpg

[Donna T]

Many, many thanks Mike! It is truly amazing to watch that beautiful painting come to life. I never expected that your first stage would look so abstract! Somehow I didn't think you were doing detailed drawings in the beginning but I never thought it would be that loose!

Donna

[Deborah Secor]

Nice, Mike! Love the progression, and thanks for sharing your 'fix' for misplacement, too. So often students think teachers get it right from the get-go, when we all have to tweak placement and various other things througout!

Lovely painting, too! Lush...

Deborah

[annette71]

I love this still life, Mike. It's mysterious and beautiful.
That little cherub put a smile on my face.

Annette

[rhapsodyerin]

This is such a stunning piece. I love the way you showed your steps. It was particularly interesting to see the blocking in you did in the first couple of steps. Just a wonderful painting:thumbsup:

[Paula Ford]

Oh, this is wonderful! Thank you Mike!

[Mike_Beeman]

annette71 The expression on the cherub was accidental...but one that I liked:)

Deborah Secor it seems I'm forever going in and "Fixing" something on a painting...but your right, a lot of students always think you get it right the first time...if only they really knew how many times I do this!

Donna T Most of what I do is similiar to this but on some pieces I find myself doing a detail drawing at the beginning or sometimes after the initial block in....depends on the piece

DAK723 try a small study and see what you think:)

Paula Ford, rhapsodyerin, kentiessen, Colorix, Tom Christopher Appreciate the kind words and comments!

[bnoonan]

Hi Mike,

Well you know I've always been a huge fan.

What impresses me most is the .... "Boldly go where no man has gone before..." approach... Sorry... That lay in initially is just tremendous. Do you do any drawing at all to start or just lay in the shapes and values and descend from there?

It's brilliant and scary -even for me. think I better give it a try though.

Upon your permission, I'd like to share it with my students as well.

Barb :)

[Mike_Beeman]

Hi Barb...Many times I'll start just as I've shared here with no drawing but blocking in with very large shapes...mostly with local color and sometimes using just the compliments. After the block in, I may do a little drawing depending on the subject matter but usually find working with "shapes" is a little more fun and exciting for me.
Please do share this with your students...

Hi Mike,

Well you know I've always been a huge fan.

What impresses me most is the .... "Boldly go where no man has gone before..." approach... Sorry... That lay in initially is just tremendous. Do you do any drawing at all to start or just lay in the shapes and values and descend from there?

It's brilliant and scary -even for me. think I better give it a try though.

Upon your permission, I'd like to share it with my students as well.

Barb :)

[bnoonan]

Thanks... I've done something similar with portraits (a familiar subject for me), but typically I do a drawing on a separate piece of paper just to reinforce the shapes. But perhaps it's time to just trust myself and go with it.

I like the idea of fun and exciting!

Barb

[Mike_Beeman]

Would love to see what you come up with...also have to share I really like the portrait of "Baggins"...beautiful job!

[Ceci]

great demo. I would have never thought it could finish so well. thanks for sharing
ceci

[binkie]

Mike, This is outstanding, as are all your paintings!

binkie

[Artaholic]

I did not catch the name at first but knew that this beautiful painting was yours. :lol: Thanks for the demo :thumbsup: :clap: :clap:

[Mike_Beeman]

Ceci, binkie..Appreciate the comments!

Artaholic Hi Gerry...Thanks for looking, how are things over in laramie?

[Artaholic]

Well Mike I did not get back here yesterdsay . Things are great and all the artists here are putting out some nice paintings.I am going to be trying your methods as I want to be more relaxed with my work. Thanks again for the demo.