9- 28-08 Echoes of '39
Total time spent on the painting - September 2, 2008 through September 28, 2008 is 49.73 hours.  Not for sale.  This one is for Momma.

Today I worked on highlighting and finishing details.  I'm done.  Yea!!!

9- 27-08 Echoes of '39

I worked on Dad's clothes, hair, hands and face, and Mom's face and hair.

9- 26-08 Echoes of '39

I painted Mom's clothes and both of their faces, Mom's arms and hands and Dad's hands.  I've been using the #2 round synthetic and the # 1 round bristlette synthetic brushes.  I now have hope that I could be done in a few more sessions, unless my parents become uncooperative.

9- 25-08 Echoes of '39

I worked on Dad's clothes and both Mom and Dad's faces.  For Dad's clothes I used the #4 filbert bristle brush.

9- 24-08 Echoes of '39

I took several days off hoping it would help me with Mom's face.  I think it did help some.  I found several more pictures of her to go by.  I used the #2 round synthetic and the # 3 round bristlette synthetic for all the work I did today.  I worked on Mom and Dad's faces, Mom's arm and both of their hands just a little.  I'm still having trouble making it look like Dad's head is tilted back.

9- 20-08 Echoes of '39

I worked a little on Dad's face, but mostly on Mom's.  I ended up painting some on and wiping it off and starting over.  The problem is that the original is blurry, and I can't tell what to do.  The colorizing ruined some of the natural shading and shaping.

9-19-08 Echoes of '39

I worked on shading and shaping Mom and Dad's clothes.

9-18-08: Echoes of '39

Today I worked on Mom's face the entire time.  I don't know how I can be so close, and yet it doesn't look like her.

9-17-08: Echoes of '39

The first half of the session I worked on the oars and the grass.  The second part, I adjusted Dad's face, wiping the features out a couple of times and reestablishing the jaw line, where the eyes are, etc.  I think it's better now, although his head isn't tilted quite enough.  I'm sure he has his eyes open slightly, looking from beneath his lashes.  Not quite sure how to paint that without his eyes looking closed.  Then I worked on the shape and wrinkles in Dad's clothes.

9-16-08: Echoes of '39

I added more yellow/orange/white to the sky reflections on the water and then more green/purple mixture to the water for tree reflections.  I used a #6 bristle brush for this and some finger blending.  With a white/blue/Payne's grey mixture, I underpainted the oars.  After that I worked on Mom and Dad's faces, arms and hands.  Dad's head is tilted back.  Doing a head tilt like that is difficult for me, but to capture him, I need to figure it out.  It's a characteristic pose of his that he carried into old age.

9-15-08: Echoes of '39

I scumbled in more orangish yellow on the water and then mixed up a greenish purple for the tree reflections and using a downward stroked I added them.  Along the shore I added brown reflections for the bank.  Over the top of that I added a white glaze to the entire water surface.

I added more layers to the leaves on the bush to the left of Dad, and I added more layers to Mom and Dad's clothes.  I had to wipe out part of Dad's shoe and redraw it in.  The shoe was in the wrong position.  Most of the second half of this session was in reshaping the hands, shoes, legs, etc.  For this I used a #2 flat synthetic brush and a #2 round bristlette.

9-14-08: Echoes of '39

I worked on the reflections on the water and realized they wouldn't do, so I applied some of the sky yellow and wiped out most of what was below it.  I worked on the grass and added a second layer to Mom and Dad's clothes.

9-13-08: Echoes of '39

I worked on the water reflections and the boat.

9-12-08: Echoes of '39

I drew in and underpainted a row boat.  I don't have good reference material for the boat, so I'm combining several images.  The boat's trim is red, so for continuity, I added red apples to the tree in front of the house.  I worked on detailing the leaves on the bushy tree and I added the remnants of a dead tree - an eye-stopper - on the right side of the painting.

9-10-08: Echoes of '39

I added another layer to the grass in the foreground.  It was a little bright, so I partially covered it with a layer of purple/Paynes grey at the bottommost part of the painting.  The grass blades are too thick; I will need to thin them down.  To provide an eye-stopper, to the left of Mom and Dad I painted in a bushy tree.

9-9-08: Echoes of '39

Using a scriptliner brush, I added more layers to the background grasses, scwiggling the brush up and down and about.  I added more shade to the grass and lower front of the house.  I then worked a little on the water - I'm ad-libbing the water, since I don't have any pictures of water on mud flat to go by.

9-8-08: Echoes of '39

I blocked in more of Mom and Dad.

9-7-08: Echoes of '39

Using a #8 and a #2 flat synthetic brush, I blocked in Mom and Dad's clothes.  For Dad's I created a navy color with ultramarine blue and Payne's grey.  I added a little white to the mixture for Mom's dress.  I started blocking in Mom's face and hair, but it didn't look like her at all, so I wiped it off.  I let it dry and redrew in her hair and face.

After that, I detailed more of the background bushes and trees and some of the house, using the same colors I used for the house before.

9-6-08: Echoes of '39

Phil took pictures, using a tripod, of him standing in Dad's pose, and me behind him with my arms about his waist.  This was to clarify some of the details I could not make out on the old photo.  Of course, Mom was 5' 6" and Dad 5' 9" and Phil is 6' 7" and I'm 5' 3" so there were differences.  Even so, it helped.  Then using the old and the new photos, I drew the images of Mom and Dad onto the canvas.

9-5-08: Echoes of '39

I detailed the trees and some of the grass and reworked part of the house.

9-4-08: Echoes of '39

Using a variety of small brushes, I worked on detailing the house and the trees in front of the house.  The problem is, I really can't make out a lot of what's in the photo.

9-3-08: Echoes of '39

Unfortunately, last night when I was adjusting the color on the top of the painting, I wiped out all the color variation.  I didn't realize it until it was dry.  So I redid that part - white gesso and all.  This time I also added an orange-yellow mixture starting midway up the canvas and blended up.  At the top I added ultramarine blue and a little diox. purple and blended down.  You don't want the yellow and blue to meet when it's wet, or you will have a green sky.  After that was dry I drew in the house.  The problem is that in the photo, there are trees covering a lot of the right front including the roof, and there's a lot of shade. So, I can't really tell the shape of the house.  I dabbed in some background trees using a mixture of diox. purple, hooker's green and a touch of white gesso.  Next I blocked in the house with vertical strokes and a variety of brownish grey colors.  I drew in the mud flat and painted it in shades of brown.  Over that I added white and blue - I decided the tide is in, since I don't like mud flat.  Next I underpainted some grasses.  I left space for Mom and Dad.

9-2-08: Echoes of '39

In this work I will be painting images of my parents, from a photo taken in 1939, in front of the my dad's home place.  The house no longer exists - it was torn down.  As always with paradise, in it's place is a parking lot.  The photos I'm using for reference are black and white, although one of them was colorized.

I started by applying water to the top of the canvas, then white gesso, using a hake brush.  For the sky, I added ultramarine blue with touches of diox. purple and burnt sienna and blended them using large Xs.  On the bottom of the canvas I applied raw umber, diox purple, hooker's green and some white gesso.  For this step I used a #10 bristle brush.  After it was dry I started scumbling on a second layer to add variations in color to the sky.  That was a mistake.  It started taking off what I had added before.  So I added more color liberally to replace what I lost. It needs to dry good overnight.  Unfortunately the hake brush is really starting to lose a lot of bristles.  I need to remove a bunch of them when the paint is completely dry.