9-13-7: Satori

I finished the painting today.  I used a #4 Creative Marx Ebony Splendor flat synthetic sable, a scriptliner brush and a #6 bristle flat brush.  I smudge Payne's gray around the base of the slash pile.  Then I used orange, a touch of yellow and a little gesso to create the flames.  I pulled them up with the bristle brush, sort of like I would grass.  I also added another layer to the tiny cars, and green to the lawn around the houses.  I added touches of sunlight to the woman's shirt and the bird and selected other places. I also added "hair" to the bird's head.  The woman becomes the bird - that is what it implies.  The coloring on both is similar.

I feel good about this painting.  It's the first time I have painted a dream.  I changed it from the dream, because I would need a huge canvas to add everything that was in the dream...and/or I would need more skills.  I like this version.  It is so where I am right now.

9-12-07: Satori

Using a scriptliner brush and a #4 Creative Marx Ebony Splendor flat synthetic sable I worked on the bird, the woman, extended the wall into the distance, painted in cars and a slash pile.  Then I located in my tape library Jerry Yarnell's painting, Fire and Rain.  It has a campfire.  Tomorrow before painting I will rewatch it so I can relearn how to do a fire and smoke.  If that isn't detailed enough, I have another video with a wigwam and a fire.  I'll have to look in Jerry's catalog to find the name of it.  It would be nice if I could finish the painting tomorrow, but I'm not sure if that's realistic.

9-3-07: Satori

Using a variety of small brushes, because I didn't know which one would work best, I did the second layer of underpainting for the woman's hair, her shirt, her shoes and the bird.  I also cleaned up some edges for the brick wall.  I tried to fix the roofs on the two houses, but they still didn't look right, so I wiped off my corrections.

9-1-07: Satori

I covered the splinters on the stump at Phil's suggestion.  He said that where they were it would indicate that the tree fell over the wall, and that the loggers would not have had it fall that way, because they would not have been able to retrieve it.  That made sense, so I wiped out the splinters.  I tried painting in more bushes, but it didn't work right.  I'll try more tomorrow.  I started shading the woman's legs and jeans.  For that I used the #8 flat synthetic wash brush.  It works only if the paint isn't too stiff.  It's good for dragging the paint gently across a surface.  The brush comes to a fine edge, so it's good for a light outline for some things.  It doesn't look outlined this way.  Sometimes with acrylic it's hard to keep the edges from blending in to the surrounding paint.  I therefore find that it works good to have a dark or a light color outline on the edge, whatever would show up best.  Then I cover it mostly with the lighter paint.  For some reason that helps give definition.

8-31-07: Satori

I painted in a large stump in the foreground to the left of the brick wall.  Around that I added more bushes and worked on the ones that were already there.  I used the scriptliner brush, a #4 flat bristle brush and a # 8 flat synthetic wash brush, and I experimented with colors.

8-16-07: Satori

I underpainted the bird, spruced up the houses a little and underpainted bushes on the hillside closest to the brick wall.  When I went back to paint the second layer on the bushes, all of them were fine except the taller one closest to the wall.  The more I worked on it, the worse it got.  I had to wipe off what I could and repaint part of the brick wall and the ground next to it.  I worked on the road - added another layer of paint and straightened the edges.

8-15-07: Satori

The only things I managed to do today were drawing in the bird, and painting a little more around the tiny houses.

8-14-07: Satori

Using a #8 Creative Mark Ebony Splendor synthetic flat wash sable brush I blocked in the woman standing on the brick platform.  I created dark blue for her jeans using ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and a little white/gesso.  For her blouse I used dioxizine purple, ultramarine blue, Payne's grey and a little white to create lavender undercoat.  I created dark brown for her hair using burnt sienna and Payne's Grey and white. The skin on her arms was hooker's green, yellow-green, alizarin crimson and white.

I also touched up the lawn and the houses just a little, so the paint wouldn't be so transparent.

8-13-07: Satori

I added highlight to the trees closest to the brick wall on the right side.  I also darkened more of the trees in the right corner.  On the left side of the painting along the road I added more trees - to leave the buffer that loggers are required to leave.  I also added trees to the left corner for an eye stopper.  Painting all those trees is monotonous.

I added a couple of houses and lawn around them.  They obviously need more definition.  I drew in small cars on the road, did some shaping of the bank below the road.  After that I drew the woman standing on the top of the wall.  The other day Phil took pictures of me so I would have a model.

8-12-07: Satori

A couple of days ago I wiped out the trees in the bottom left corner, painted in dirt and extended the road and added more rocks in the front part of the canvas.  I may change them to logs.  Not sure yet.

Today I painted more layers on my trees, moving forward, changing the green slightly from one side to the other.

I'm realizing more and more that what I need to do is overcome, rise above, transcend all that happens.  It is not of me.  I am peaceful and happy, naturally.  All that has happened in the past, all that is happening with Mom is not something to bring me down.  It can be dealt with.  It's time to move in to the satori of the moment.

8-8-07 Satori

I underpainted the brick wall and added in underpainting for rocks on the left side of the wall.  The composition of the painting is not exactly how it was in the dream.  I think I need a much larger canvas to adequately achieve what I want, but I don't want to paint on a larger canvas at this time.  Plus I need good reference photos from an aerial view.

8-7-07: Satori

Using a fan brush and shades of green, I added grass to the hillside.  I also lightened the color of the most distant clear cut.  Next I drew in the wall that separates the pristine side of the painting from the other one.

8-6-07: Satori

Right now it's all about the trees....  This kind of repetition is boring, but necessary for the painting to be effective.  The problem is getting the consistency of the paint right.  It kind of dries out.  I add a touch of water, and then it's too thin to go on in a good way.

8-5-07: Satori

I painted forward again, adding another layer to the tree areas.  I have yet to figure out how to do the brick wall and the slope to the left of the wall.  That's tomorrow's task.  I did paint in the streams in two valleys and a semblance of a road.

8-4-07: Satori

I finally got back to painting more underlayers on the trees, working forward.  This stress with taking care of Mom's business and dealing with her ongoing infirmities steals the creativity most of the time.

7-24-07: Satori

I highlighted the background mountains and started working my way forward.  I'm now working on the trees on the left side.  I also added a couple of clear-cuts.  To make the color of dirt I mixed white gesso, burnt sienna and some hookers green and a little ultra marine blue.

7-23-07: Satori

I redid the upper right corner again, scumbling it.  I drew in the mountains with charcoal.  After that I started with the distant mountains, painting them a grey-blue.  The next layer forward was a little darker.  After another darker layer I added green, making long vertical dry-brush strokes for semblance of trees.  Each layer forward got a little darker until it was all underpainted.  I have no idea if this is going to be any better than the last two I painted over, but at least the sky is bigger.

7- 22-07: Satori

I re-painted the sky with gesso, ultramarine blue and on the right a touch of purple.  I used the new Yarnell brush.  Once it dried, it still needed some work on the right, so with a number 10 bristle brush, I scumbled in more of the pale lavender color.  I'll have to see if I took care of the washed out look.

7-20 - 07: Satori

I sanded the canvas again.  It seems better.

7-19-07: Satori

My new hake brush from Jerry Yarnell arrived, so I re-painted the sky with gesso, blue and alizarin crimson.  This time the sky will take up more of the painting.  On the left side I also added a touched of burnt sienna.  The tree ridges that I thought I'd sanded away, still show some.  If it's too bad after it dries, I'll sand again.  If that doesn't do it, I'll remove the canvas from the frame and stretch a new canvas.  I hope I don't have to do that.  Since it's a good sized canvas, I used lots of staples which will be tedious to remove.

7-18-07: Satori

I sanded the rough places where the trees had been.  Dabbing on trees can leave bumps.

7-17-07: Satori

I painted over everything, wiping out the scene.

7-16-07: Satori

I worked on the trees on the left side of the painting today.  Mostly I guess I'm just experimenting.

7-15-07: Satori

Today's painting session seemed to negate yesterday's.  The trees I created quite well yesterday, didn't work out today.  I tried various colors.  I tried the ½ inch foliage brush.  It was too big.  I couldn't even get the 1/4 inch brush to work right - the top came off.  I painted grass coloring on the left hand slope, but it didn't work right either.

7-14-07: Satori

I worked more on the trees.  This time I used a 1/4 inch angle cut foliage brush.  It worked pretty good.  Tomorrow I think I will try a larger one.  As I come forward the trees get larger.  One of the problems is the paint drying on the palette.  I get the consistency just right and do some of the trees, then it dries out a little and I add a little water, but now the paint no longer has the same initial consistency and it blurs the image.

7-13-07: Satori

Using a variety of bristle brushes, laying them on their side and using the tip to see what worked best, trying various consistencies of paint and various shades of green, I worked on the trees, bringing them forward.  I also wiped out some of what was on the left side.  It didn't look right.

7-12-07: Satori

I did more of the same with the painting today, gradually working forward with the trees and turning the left mountain into a gravel pit.

7-11-07: Satori

Today's session was about populating the landscape with more clearly defined trees and adding more layers and depth to the mountains.  It helped to paint today.  When I started, I was feeling upset about Mom's situation and all that needs to be done on almost a daily basis, all the fires to be put out.  By the end of the painting session I felt a lot better.  I used a #6 bristle brush for the mountain stuff and a # 2 bristle brush for the trees.

7-10-07: Satori

Using ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, a little Payne's grey, a little green and a touch of Dioxazine purple, I painted the undercoating for the left side, getting gradually darker as I moved forward.  Then I worked on the right side, using the same colors, minus the burnt sienna.  I used a #6 and a # ten bristle brush.

7-8-07: Satori

Using ultramarine blue, a touch of purple and white I redid the sky...some of the previous painting still needed covering.  After that I painted in the background mountains.

7-05-07: Satori

I painted over the whole thing today and started drawing it in again.

7-03-07: Satori

I painted in more trees, this time using a number ten bristle brush for the larger foreground trees.  I began to realize that the lower right needs to look more like the abyss...that you can't see trees in the abyss even if they are there.  So I mixed a dark blue using Payne's grey, Dioxazine purple and ultramarine blue.  I blended this color up to the edge of the cliff, also blending that color upward in the loose shape of trees and blending a little in the canyon bottoms further back.  I've noticed that in reality canyons look dark, but when other painters paint in ridges and the layer of mountains, the base of the mountains, the canyons, are often light to provide differentiation.  I used my new 1 inch blender brush.  It still doesn't work as good as Jerry Yarnell's blender/hake brush.  I need a new one of Jerry's.  The one I have now is leaking too many bristles.

Next I worked on the leftmost mountain, adding shape and form.  I left the painting for a while.  When I returned, I painted distant trees on the left, then moving forward, adding closer trees.  Once I reached the foreground I realized I didn't like it at all.  I used black gesso to paint in the lower right and I wiped out the cliff.  I also added black to the lower left corner.  I don't know what to do with the slope on the left to make the painting look balanced.  That side needs to look barren, used up, desolate.  I'll see what I think of all this tomorrow - if I need to paint over everything and start over, or if this is a good base.

7-02-07: Satori

Today's painting session I used a #6 filbert bristle brush for lightening the color of the distant mountains.  I then switched to a 3/4 and a ½ inch angle cut foliage brush to underpaint distant trees.  After that I used a #8 flat synthetic sable by Ebony Splendor to fill in more trees as the trees became larger.  It seemed to work better.  I also drew in the line for the rest of the wall that divides the used up part of the landscape from the pristine.  Underpainting all those trees is a little tedious.  The colors I used were Hooker's green, ultra marine blue, Payne's grey and Dioxazine Purple, a bit of burnt sienna and white gesso in varying combinations.

7-01-07: Satori

I sketched in the mountains using vine charcoal.  I spent most of my time trying to figure out where to put the wall that separates the used up and the pristine sides of the painting and especially the landing where the people will be standing.  Using a number ten bristle brush, I layered in the mountains.  I mixed ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, a touch of purple and occasionally a little Hooker's green and Payne's grey with varying amounts of white.  In the back the mountains were lighter, getting darker as I moved forward to create depth.  At this point the mountains look very dark.  I'm hoping the dark shades will be good underpainting for the treed hillsides.

6-30-07: Satori

I painted over the upper part of the canvas with the sky color.  It needed a second coat to adequately cover the canvas.  Before I drew on it with charcoal, I wanted to be sure that the paint was good and dry, otherwise the charcoal doesn't brush off sometimes.

6-29-07: New Painting - Satori

First thing in the morning Phil handed me a finished stretcher frame.  He makes all my stretcher frames.  This one is 22" X 40", for the largest painting I've ever done.  I didn't think I could stretch it.  But I did fine.  I used the heavier canvas - cotton duck.  I haven't used this for a long time.  I understand that the heavier stuff works good for landscapes.  I made sure I had a staple every inch so it would be tight enough and not bag.  I underpainted a color gradient, first covering the canvas in white, then triple loading the brush with ultra marine blue, a touch of purple and some black and blending it down.  The black wasn't a good idea.  It made it look dirty.  I also added more color to the middle and to the bottom.  It's only the top that needs to look good at this point - the sky color.

This painting will be sort of from an aerial view - it's the dream I had about where I am now in my life.  I'm going to feel my way through it.  This is part of my cocooning.