ARTFINDER: On the Podium by Richard De Wolfe - This old tractor belongs to a friend of mine. F...

On the Podium 24x30 oil on canvas by Richard De Wolfe

I have been away from the blog for some time, but I will try to get back to it as often as I can.  It is amazing how much of my that time social media uses up these days!  Juggling posts, web sites and painting sometimes requires more than I have available in my day!

This is an older painting of mine, but one that I still enjoy very much.  I love painting country art and farm subjects and this one falls squarely into that catagorey, very nicely.  I hope this old tractor, acting as a sound stage for a very melodious performer will brighten your day.  There is nothing more uplifting than the golden voice of the song sparrow.

Winterlude Part 3

"Winterlude" almost there!

I keep adding colour and detail throughout the entire scene.  I want to maintain a balance so that I can judge each new brush stroke against the overall look of the painting.  If you concentrate too much on one area you may find that it doesn't work so well after the rest of the painting is completed.  You also run the risk of 'falling in love' with how that particular area of your work looks and you may not want to make necessary changes as you go forward.  By working more or less equally across the painting, you can maintain a healthier and more impartial perspective on your work.

Here I have painted in the distant trees using a mixture of sap green, ultramarine blue and titanium white.  Ultramarine blue dominates to create an illustion of distance.  Now the local colour of the barn is introduced.  I decided on a soft yellow to promote the feeling of bright sunlight on a cold winter day. I add snow to the branches of the spruce tree in front of the barn and generally add more detail to everything.  I introduce a slight hint of warmth in the sky on the right side of the painting, again to establish a feeling of bright sunlight coming from that direction.  Now I embellish the soft shadows in the snow and on the snowy branches in the foreground using a mixture of ultramarine blue and titanium white.

"Winterlude" 9 X 12 inches acrylic on board

I work fairly consistently over the entire painting as I go along, so everything comes together quite nicely as I near the finish.  I add small details and highlights as necessary, such as brightening the snow on the barn roof, spruce tree, fence and middle ground to suggest bright light in these areas.  I add bits of snow in the forks of tree branches beside the barn and I strengthen the blue shadow areas.

The last area to concentrate on is the foreground.  Layers of detail and colour are added to the birds to make them appear close to the viewer.  The pine needles are finished off with darker and more detailed brush strokes using a combination of sap green and lamp black,  The tree branches are painted in quickly with burnt sienna and lamp black in the shadows.

In order to increase the contrast between the sunny background and the shadowed foreground, I add a glaze of ultramarine blue and mat medium over most of the pine branches and the birds until I see a clear division between the two areas.  Once the signature is added, the painting is finished!

Winterlude Part Two

"Winterlude" a work in progress

Now I begin blocking in a few colours to create an underpainting on my illustration board.  The sky is roughed in with a combination of cerulean blue and titanium white acrylic pigments.  Because the light is coming from the right side of the painting, I transition from a very pale colour on the right to a darker sky on the left.  I block in the shadows on the barn roof and in the snow.  The snow surfaces that are directly in sunlight are blocked in with titanium white.  I use cerulean blue to add a few contours to the shaded, snow laden boughs in the foreground.

"Winterlude" one step closer!

I keep adding more colour and more detail, gradually establishing my colour scheme and mood of the painting.  I use cadmium red to wash in basic tones on the male and female cardinals and slowly build contours of light and shadow as I go.  The plumage of the female cardinal is primarily drab and somewhat olive, so I use a combination of cadmium yellow, titanium white and ultramarine blue to create this colour.  The spruce tree in the middle ground and the pine boughs in the foreground are quickly blocked in with sap green.  Next, I introduce burnt sienna on the fencing and bare deciduous trees in the middle ground.  I also build a little more shadow contour on the male cardinal with this colour.  Finally, I paint the sky again with more colour and detail in the blending.  My painting is starting to take shape!

Winterlude

"Winterlude" sketch

I thought I would do a demo of how I paint this Christmas image for licensing.  I do a fair amount of illustrative art for licensing through Porterfield's Fine Art Licensing.  A winter scene is the perfect choice, since the art that is most in demand for licensing is usually a Christmas theme.  These images are often used for greeting cards, puzzles, gift ware and paper products as well as many other possibilites.  A prospective client will review the work I have available for licensing in a given catagory, choose what suits their project and purchase limited rights to use the image for a specific purpose and for a specific period of time.

The first thing I do when producing this type of art is to brainstorm an idea that will appeal to a maximum number of buyers.  Quite often, as in this case, the idea includes a number of similar images that may evolve into a series of finished pieces, all on the same theme.  Once I feel I have enough inspiration to proceed I come up with reference material for my idea.  I file all types of reference and I take digital photos everywhere I go, so I have a lot of material to draw from.  Now I create sketches to work out my design and create any additional parts of my picture from a combination of memory and imagination.  When this is done  I proceed to do a finished sketch on board or canvas to begin my painting.

"Winterlude"

The next step begins by spraying my drawing with a workable fixative to seal the graphite and prevent smearing.  Now I cover the drawing with matt medium that contains a small amount of acrylic pigment to tone the board.  Usually I will mix one muted colour and cover the entire surface evenly to provide a ground instead of glaring white.  Warm earth tones are my usual choice, but blue-gray is an alternative for a cooler, more subdued look.  

This time I wanted to suggest an extreme contrast between the extreme sunlight on the right and the cool shade on the left of my painting, so I toned the matt medium with cadmium yellow on the right and cerulean blue on the left.  I hope to create the illusion of a winter day warmed by the sun.  These colours will influence the paint that I lay over top as I continue to work.

Vignettes

Every picture does not have to be a full blown painting.  Sometimes a simple little drawing is a nice change from complicated compositions, colour schemes and well thought out story lines.  At times, just a centre of interest on a blank background can be enough to make a very satisfying picture.

"Downey Duo" Acrylic on Paper  3.5" X 6"  

These little paintings might be done as colour sketches for a painting idea or maybe to try out a different style or technique.  Other times they may be 'just for fun'!

"Little Filly" India Ink on board 6" X 6"

I used to do a lot of pen and ink drawings as commercial illustrations.  It is a lot of fun and I think it would be nice to do them more often.  This little sketch was done as a study of a new foal that one of our mares delivered some years ago.  It can be challenging to try to create the illusion of light and shade, tone and texture using only a simple black line on a white background but the results can be very rewarding and fresh.

Creating small, simple pictures like this is a great exercise that doesn't have to take a long time to complete.  It is a great way to capture an impression or likeness of something or someone when time is short or ideas are coming fast and furious!  For an art lover on a tight budget, it could represent an opportunity to own a piece of original art, sometimes for less than the cost of a print.

Tropical Rain Forest Toucan - Step Four

I continue to add basic detail to the foliage behind the toucan.  Each plant has it's own shades of green.  The leaf structure and veins within them also vary from plant to plant.  In the background I paint subtle whisps of vines to suggest greater depth in the picture.

I continue to paint layers of detail into the leaves until they seem to be strong enough to stand out without overpowering the toucan in the foreground.  The last thing required is to intensify some of the colours in the toucan, mango, butterfly and tree frog.  The picture is complete when I ad strong white highlights here and there.  I save the greatest colour contrast and largest white highlight for the toucan and it's bill, so that it will dominate the picture, both in size and strength.

Tropical Rain Forest Toucan - Step Three

Now I paint stronger, more vivid colours into the beak and eye patch of the toucan.  Lighter green is back painted into the background to suggest light filtering through the foliage.  This gives another layer of depth to the scene.

Next, I wash in thin layers of acrylic paint over the mango in the toucan's beak.  I am starting to suggest the grainy surface of the skin and the subtle changes in colour from red to lime green to golden yellow.  The complex pattern of the butterfly is laid in with flat colour before I begin modelling the leafy foliage and flowers in the middle ground.  The tree frog requires careful attention in order to keep it from becoming lost against the green frond on which it sits.

Tropical Rain Forest Toucan - Step Two

To suggest thick rainforest vegetation, I paint the background with a solid application of very dark green acrylic paint.  All of the foreground and middle ground objects are now wisible in stark relief.  The dark green will make the brighter colours pop out.

I start to add colour to the Toucan.  There is a subtle pattern in the heavy bill and I wash this in with a mixture of red and burnt sienna.  A bit of blue establishes the local colour around the eye.  A very light, warm wash of acrylic gives the white 'bib' on the bird's throat some form.

Tropical Rain Forest Toucan - Step One

This is an illustration that I created primarily for art licensing.  I started by working out a pencil drawing using various pieces of reference material from my scrap file.  Once the drawing was worked out to my satisfaction, I transferred it to illustration board.

I then used a kneaded eraser to remove most of the pencil from the illustration board, leaving only faint lines to guide me.  Next, I painted in the black areas using acrylic paint.

The Stone Arch

I grew up on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, in the Thousand Islands region of Ontario.  One of the places that I loved to explore in those days was Boldt's Castle, near Alexandria Bay, New York.  It is located on an island just off the main shipping channel of the river.

The stone arch that I have painted here was to be the formal entrance to the castle for launches delivering guests from larger yachts anchored in deep water.  A drawbridge within the opening was to provide a prominade on the embankment of the Swan Pond.  Alas, tragedy struck and Mrs. Boldt passed away.   Her husband, Geroge Boldt, was grief stricken and all work on the castle ceased and the entire project was never completed.

This painting measures 9.5 inches high by 13.5 inches wide.  It is painted in alkyd on stretched canvas.  Prints are available at Richard De Wolfe Fine Art.