Hudson River Work in Progress

[JamieWG]

A client saw this little plein air painting of mine from Hastings-on-Hudson, (which had also been done as a commission and so had already sold), and wanted something similar:


She wanted a larger painting from private property along the Hudson. It was freezing cold by this time and most of the leaves were down. She wanted the cliffs of the Palisades to be prominently featured in the painting, and they are only well lit until about 10:30am. The location is pretty far from me, plus it was a little problematic arranging access to the property with security, so doing the painting on location with multiple sessions was not an option.

I went down there on a freezing cold morning, with winter boots, my heaviest winter coat, hat, scarf, gloves and sketchbook. Security opened the gate for me, and I did four watercolor sketches on location in my sketchbook and emailed them to her. (I don't know if I can post them here since they're not in oils, so if you're interested, you can see them here.)

She loved them all, and chose elements from each that she wanted to include in the painting. She also wanted a red barge in the painting. And a tugboat. And she didn't want the tree branches obscuring the cliffs much. So, this was quickly becoming more of a composite commission of elements she associated with this location and her own aesthetic. (Which, BTW, I feel is great! I love working with clients like this.)

I then did a quick pastel sketch, using my plein air watercolor references plus some photos that I took at the location, to get an idea of how I was going to balance all those elements she wanted. She was really happy with that, and just added that she'd like more foliage along the shoreline, which I'd planned to do in the final anyway.

With the holidays over, and having recovered from bronchitis, I finally got a chance to start on the actual oil painting. This is on an 18x24" oil primed linen panel.

First stage: Just setting out the composition with Gamblin Transparent Earth Red, thinned with a mixture of Galkyd Lite and Turpenoid. (That's Mango and Coconut, my studio mascots, looking on.)

The photo taped to the easel is a very rough idea, since so many things had to be changed, including the shape of that tree (so it wouldn't obscure the cliffs so much.) I have a computer off to the left, which had about 20 photo references on it that I'm working from, plus my sketches done on location, and the pastel done in the studio.

Next I pulled out some WN French Ultramarine Blue and Winsor Red (Pyrrole) to add to the Gamblin Transparent Earth Red to start getting some darks into the cliffs:


Then I lost track of time for a couple of hours and forgot to take photos. By the time I remembered to do that, I'd lost most of my outside light and so color-wise, this photo is way off, but this is where I'm at now:


Fun, fun! Thanks for tagging along.

Jamie

[Scorpio]

Hi Jamie,
I love both the summer and winter versions of this scene. Your client will be so happy! I do have one question.. what special qualities of transparent earth red makes you favor it for an underpainting, as opposed to, say, transparent red iron oxide, or terra rosa, or transparent maroon? Thanks!

[JamieWG]

Originally Posted by Scorpio

Hi Jamie,
I love both the summer and winter versions of this scene. Your client will be so happy! I do have one question.. what special qualities of transparent earth red makes you favor it for an underpainting, as opposed to, say, transparent red iron oxide, or terra rosa, or transparent maroon? Thanks!

Scorpio, many thanks for looking and for your reply. The client says she's delighted with it so far, so all is going according to plan!

To answer your question, I am not married to the Gamblin Transparent Earth Red by a long shot! It is just their version of Transparent Red Oxide, and that's the TRO I happened to have on hand at the time. When I want a TRO, I use that or the Rembrandt Transparent Oxide Red or RGH Transparent Red Oxide or Winsor Newton Artist Burnt Sienna (which is really a transparent red oxide); it doesn't matter much to me which one it is; I can always tweak the color if I want to alter it a bit. But I use many different colors for underpainting purposes --- sometimes one and sometimes many in different areas of the painting, and sometimes none at all.

There are so many ways to start a painting. I don't consider any of them to be wrong; it's just however I feel like starting at the time, or a particular result I want to achieve. When I do underpaint, I might coat the entire panel and then pull out lights, or I might paint in areas instead like I did here. Sometimes I coat with different colors in different areas. On rare occasions, I'll start with a pre-toned, dry panel. Generally though, I like the luminosity of working on a white surface, starting with transparent colors, pulling out lights, and building to opaque layers, wet on wet.

The choice of transparent red oxide for this underpainting was easy, because she liked the colors in the small Hastings painting I'd done in the fall. Since I used the TRO for that one, I did it here too. I like it for warm, autumn scenes, as it sets the stage for those foliage colors, and vibrates against the blues in the water and sky.

Jamie

[monkhaus]

Thank you for the progress shots and I'm glad you linked to your sketchbook too. Nice to see another shout out for the Stillman & Birn.

[sharkbarf]

Thanks for the WIP. Good for you for braving the elements. It's something I really need to do. Maybe this will be just the inspiration I need.

There's always something you can learn by watching another artist. Once a piece is done you can go back through and watch exactly how they got the effect that you like in the end.

Now how do we resurrect the old masters?

[marionh]

This looks like an interesting project. Thanks for the WIP, it is always interesting to watch a painting come to life.

[Scorpio]

Jamie, thanks for clarifying that. I thought that maybe Gamblin's TR earth had a particular color bias that you perhaps found more effective than other TRO's.

[JamieWG]

Originally Posted by monkhaus

Thank you for the progress shots and I'm glad you linked to your sketchbook too. Nice to see another shout out for the Stillman & Birn.

Monkhaus, I really love the Stillman and Birn sketchbooks. I always have an art journal running in addition to whatever sketchbooks I'm working in. Finding these has been like striking gold. One thing many don't know is that these sketchbooks are designed to open completely flat, so it's super-easy to work across the gutter on the two-page spread. That means I can carry a book half the size and have twice the working area! In order to do that, you have to break in the book like this before you start to work in it. I just found that out several weeks ago, after I'd worked all the way through one of them. Now I'm on my second, which I broke in, and it is so great that the books have that capability!

Thank you very much for commenting on my thread!

Jamie

[JamieWG]

Originally Posted by sharkbarf

Thanks for the WIP. Good for you for braving the elements. It's something I really need to do. Maybe this will be just the inspiration I need......

Well I have just the opposite problem! LOL.... I love working out on location. My inspiration comes from working from life, and I get bored to tears in the studio. I mostly work in my art journal over the winter, going out to indoor locations like the zoo, greenhouse, friends' homes, and anywhere else they will have me, and do some materials/lightfastness testing, experiment with assorted approaches in different media, and tackle my commissions in the studio. This week I'm planning to go to an Aquarium one day and a large pet store on another. I hate the cold, but I hate the studio almost as much.

Marion, thank you for looking on over my shoulder!

Scorpio, of the colors you listed, the only one I'd be highly unlikely to use for any underpainting purposes is terra rosa, and that's because it's not a transparent pigment.

Jamie

[RainySea]

Jamie, your studio mascots are so adorable. The work in progress is looking beautiful and fascinating to see the stages of its creation. . . oils are one of the few mediums I've never tried at all. Do you use the water soluble kind or regular.

[Scorpio]

Hi Jamie, I was surprised to find that terra rosa is opaque, as Richard Schmid has several monochrome paintings done with terra rosa in his book, and discusses "transparent monochrome" next to the paintings. I was about to buy some, but changed my mind after your info.

In your experience, is there a fast drying TRO? I have been using Graham, and it takes several days to dry, even with a fast dry medium.

[JamieWG]

Rainy, thanks so much! Mango and Coconut, and my dog Rondo, make the studio so much more enjoyable for me. This painting is being done with traditional oils, with the exception of the titanium white, which I'm mixing about 2:1 or 3:1, Winsor Newton Artist Titanium White to WN Griffin Titanium White. That speeds the drying time of that slow-drying white, while helping maintain the consistency of traditional oils. I do keep a pochade box loaded with water mixable paints for specific instances. For example, in open studio life drawing they generally do not permit solvents in the studio. Also, if I want to paint in a closed car or in a cafe, I'll sometimes use those. But since the Golden OPEN Acrylics appeared on the scene, I prefer those over H2O oils for many reasons. I would suggest that if you want some of the characteristics of oils in a water mixable paint, try the Golden OPENs first. (Water mixable oils never have the feel of traditional oil paints anyway.)

Scorpio, Terra Rosa is a great color! As a card-carrying member of AMASS (Art Materials Acquisition Syndrome Society --- which Rainy knows all about too ) I would never dissuade anybody from buying a new tube of paint! In all seriousness though, I use Terra Rosa sometimes, and also its cousin Venetian Red. Occasionally it's the only red on my palette. It's quite useful for portraiture and also fall landscapes. I just prefer more transparent colors for underpainting. As for a fast drying TRO, I use Winsor Newton Griffin Burnt Sienna when I want a fast drying version of that color for underpainting, which I often do when painting plein air. Out in the field, I often bring transparent Griffin paints for underpainting, and opaque traditional oils that will go over the top. The WN Burnt Sienna is PR101 and is a transparent red oxide. It's just misnamed.

Jamie

[Scorpio]

Thanks for that, Jamie.

[JamieWG]

I didn't have much painting time today, but started getting some of the darks and midtones into the foreground with thin paint, and got in most of the large tree. It's starting to take shape. Sorry about the glare --- nightime artificial lighting in the studio is the pits for taking photos.



To finish up the second layer, I need more foreground foliage overlapping the shoreline, have to cool the background foliage a bit, and I have to get the barge and tug into the back where that orange space is against the far shore. After that, I'll start adding white into my colors in the foreground, placing highlights and accents, and getting thicker and more textural with the paint application in the third layer.

So far, my palette consists of:
Cadmium Yellow Medium (WN, so it's a very warm yellow)
Winsor Red (Pyrrole)
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Blue
French Ultramarine Blue
Transparent Earth Red (Transparent Red Oxide)
Titanium White

I don't anticipate adding more colors my palette for this one, unless I start to feel the need for a cooler yellow.

Thanks for following along!

Jamie

[couturej]

Wow love it! The colors are fantastic!