Thursday, April 14, 2011

Gate Keeper - WIP part 3 - still a long way to go



I have been working slowly on my Venetian Gate Keeper. I find this painting quite complex to paint - there are so many different textures: 3 types of marble, stone, rusty ironwork. Furthermore,  the strange perspective is making the painting rather difficult to read as I am working and I keep having to double check where the shadows should be:-) I am gradually getting used to the Canson Arches artboard; the paint dries very quickly on it and I thought that the same would apply to frisket - not at all! I came very close to remove some paper along with the frisket which still retained some moisiture:-(


All in all, I am really enjoying painting this old guy and I am getting fairly fond of him.  The painting is 16" X 20"  and there is still a fair amount to paint or refine. I will try to get it finished this weekend if I don't have too many distractions and if I am disciplined :-)

Have a nice evening!

23 comments:

  1. Take your time. He is looking good!

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  2. Thank you, Vicki. I have started working a bit too fast on this painting...I always get impatient at this point to see it finished...and that's when I make the wrong decision:-)

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  3. I am really enjoying your WIP. Love how it is coming along so beautifully.

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  4. Been watching this one develop and found your comments very interesting. Its coming on a treat now and look forweard to seeing the wrought iron gate addition. I am sure these strong dark marks will add even more mystery to this piece. Glad you had good trip to NYC to see your daughter. Can't believe you did not take a sketchbook/pen etc.

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  5. Joan, the gate will be basically as it is right now in the latest picture ( bottom right side). My daughter did not give me a minute for sketching :-) but I did take lots of pictures...unfortunately, it was overcast most of the time we were there. I may go back to NYC one more time before my daughter returns to work at her firm's Montreal office sometime before September.

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  6. Looking good so far. I enjoy the subjects you paint - nothing I would choose which gives me a very different perspective about watercolors :)

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  7. Thank you, Rhonda. I suppose that the beauty of art is that artists are all different and often get inspired by very different things. This old guy really touches my heart and I hope that I will make him look as good as he deserves after all these years.

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  8. This is looking great. Quite a challenging subject, but I know you are up to it.

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  9. Thank you, Kathy, for your vote of confidence:-) I am really enjoying this painting!

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  10. Christiane, I am so liking this and I am so glad you are giving the arches board a try. There is no doubt that this will be awesome when you are done!

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  11. Krista, I will certainly use this arches board again! Thank you for making me really discover it.
    As for the painting, I still really like the subject, but the finishing touches on the wall portion are giving me some challenge for some reason...probably because I have been painting at night:-( I will reassess that portion in daylight.

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  12. It's looking great! Can't wait to see the finished painting!

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  13. Theresa, it's great to see you here! Thank you for stopping by. I am glad that you like this painting so far.

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  14. Love each step. It's always great to find a little bit of European architecture in the states! It's much cheaper than flying so far!

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  15. Thank you Pam. I was surprised to see so many mascaroni in downtown Manhattan! They were nice, but missed a bit of that weather-beaten look of the Venetian ones:-)
    Thank you very much for stopping by!

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  16. Christine wanted to thank you for favoriting my blog today - just had to stop by, and so glad I did! Your work is amazing!!! Will be back for sure;-)

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  17. Jeanne, you are too kind! Do visit again when you can. I was very pleased to find your site and I will certainly visit often!

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  18. This is really looking good, Christiane. You're doing this guy great justice.

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  19. Thank you, Mollie. This guy does deserve some tender loving care after all these years, don't you think:-) Somehow, I did not manage to find much time to work on him very much this week...I will be more disciplined in the coming days. I hope that you are doing well.

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