Squid painting

[cthulhu77]

Having had some nice emails and pm's, I thought it would be fun to show another piece from start to finish...this one will have a squid in it (I can see it now, but it will show up to all of you prior to the end)...

 

[cthulhu77]

Starting out with a piece of hardboard (masonite, smooth) I prime the surface with my own mix of gesso:

After coming up with the initial idea, I use a series of washes to lay down the beginnings of the backround colours:

inbetween layers of pigment thinned down with clear acrylic (this is called a glaze), I dry the paintings on a table with a 75 watt lamp...too hot and you will blister the surface ! (note the stranraer off to the side, drying also):

 

[Jean]

Hi Greg,

I rather like the look of the piece on the left, the sunrise/sunset over mountains???.........Love those colours!


J

 

[cthulhu77]

After laying down 10 to 12 layers of Cadmium Yellow, I start to introduce the reds:

Here we are after 5 layers of red...a few more to go, then onto the next series of washes! I let each wash dry completely, about 10 minutes inbetween each:

 

[chrono_war01]

oo....very pretty.

 

[darquerift]

OOOOO, this is way to cool...watching an artist at work!! Do continue please.

 

[cthulhu77]

Sorry about my 24 hour hiatus...ate a rather bad jalapeno chili cheese dog yesterday morning, and spent quite a lot of time being sick...ah well, back to the painting!

I have added on 3 layers of blue glaze here, you can see that the areas that were previously yellow are now green, not from mixing the pigments, but by layering them ! (that is what imparts the glow):

After these coats have dried a bit, I go back into just the water area and add in more Ultramarine blue to deepen the colour:

Notice all the high tech equipment...I love pot pies, and save every aluminium dish as a mixing platform!!!

 

[cthulhu77]

and after that has dried for a while...I put in the moon and the beginnings of the little squid in flat white...:

 

[cthulhu77]

more white detailing is added, as well as the vibrant crimson colours to the moon and the squid...and look at the sky, it's full of stars! :

After the whites are laid down, I go over everything with at least three more coats of yellow glaze to soften things and make them glow a bit:

 

[Tigerkatze_82]

niiiice

Very nice work
Keep posting your artwork

TK