22x15 Acrylic on Masonite Hardboard, #996, start 5-5-14
Day 1 drawing. Day 2 painting,
Day 1, A 15 minute drive to Kula Glenn, 7:37 setup, 45 min draw with charcoal, 8:15 best sun light time, 8:36 sun gone, 8:42 Stop, 9:13 Home jig-a-de-jig. I didn't have a notebook so I wrote on the painting.
When the charcoal drawing was finished I started with the blue paint and a long haired liner brush. I usually just use the point and outline everything the way I do with a pencil in water colors. I pattern outline everything. With these acrylics I'm using a light cobalt blue to shadow in large areas, I'm using the whole brush. I painted an oil painting with just an extra long filbert hog bristle brush once and I liked it.
Day 1, This is what the light cobalt blue thinned with the Liquitex "water like" Medium over the charcoal looks like. I took it home to wash off the charcoal. The 8:15 notation on the painting is where the light was the strongest and the flowers were the most magenta colored. The line shows the shadow line, from this I can tell where the dark blue of the shadows start.
Day 1, I'm home, it's taking longer to make the webpage then it did to paint. Washing it down was no problem, a little soap, water and a sponge did it quickly. This is the reason I use the Liquitex Medium, it's just a colorless glue for pigment. Normal acrylic paint can be scrubbed off when it's used as a thin wash but not with this water like medium.
Day 2 painting,
Left the house= 6:53. Arrived on location = 7:03, Setup= 7:15, Colors to palette= 7:27, Important colors in= 8:12. Shoot photo, Done day= 8:54, Leave= 9:10, Drive= 9:15, Home= 9:26, 11 minutes. Painting time= 1.5 hours, best color time 8:00, tomorrow it will be 7:55.
This location is just past #984, 3-2-12, it wasn't blooming yet.
Low on Hooker's green and French Ult. Blue I'm not happy with the sky. The brush I used was too stiff and left lighter stiff hair streaks. I'm going to go over it at home while I remember the color progressions. Lighter cyan at the bottom, light blue at the top, lighter to the left where the sun is. There are 3 separate colors of flowers, Pink in the sunlight, purple in transition and blue in the shade. The mountain clouded over first and I never got the left outline.
Day 2 painting, Homework, I corrected the sky.
Day 3 painting,
Leave=7:08, Arrive= 7:21, little sun= 13 min. drive, Setup by 7:32, 8:07 best color, that's 5 minutes earlier then yesterday. Tomorrow will be 8:02 best time, 8:34= good sun, 9:10= Done day, good sun, 2 brushes dirty, 9:31= trim, leave, 4:42= home= 11 min.
It's 95% covered, architecture to go, almost 1/2 finished with 100% covered. I chose this subject because of the toughness of the greens. There are a lot of different shades of green, a real challenge. Only half of the tree has flowers, I don't know if the other half will or won't flower. This is a smooth style tree, the gnarly type hasn't started blooming yet, their still yellowish-green.
Day 4 painting,
Best time= 8:02. That's when the shadow part of the tree is the bluest. 15 min drive, 15 min setup, I have to leave by 7:30. Irene is coming with me, I'd better allow another 15 min. Leave by 7:15. I'd better have a clean palette. I still have to draw the house and road railing. First the flowers, then the dark branches, then the drawing.
Irene is not coming. 8:38 going strong. 8:57 sun gone, pack up. 9:04 packed, 9:08 drive, 12 min home.
I painted in the branches after I chalked them in, added the sun on the road (too dark), worked on the flowers a little. I feel like I took a step backwards, that's normal because I work all over the painting and parts are not done. Lighten the top shadow on the tree, get the left side mountain hight and skinny tree.
TIP: Wash the painting often. Wet the area to match the color with one you are mixing. Acrylics dry lighter but while they are both wet they will look the same.
Day 5 painting,
Leave= 7:06, Setup= 7:31, 8:21= good sun, good painting, meet Anthony, owns a Tuscan Villa to paint, 9:06= finished for the day, at least 5 or 6 cars honked to say hi, Drive= 9:20, Home= 9:45 got some gas $40. I worked all over the painting.
Day 6 painting,
Leave= 6:45, Arrive=6:57 = 12 min, Set-up= 7:09 very blue, 7:45= 5 cars honked, 8:02= 8 cars, 8:30= a guy stopped, photo, card, 8:52= done for day, 9:00 pack-up, 9:03= drive, home= 9:16. Shirley set up some proteas, I think I'll do a pastel.
I have 100% coverage and I'm more than 1/2 way done, I think. Many greens, darkened the sunlit flowers, added a wash of Indian yellow orange side. Did a lot with branches, there are a lot more flowers on the tree now, tomorrow I'll decide if I should add them to the painting. I still have the architecture to do and the tree road shadows.
Day 7 painting,
Left 7:15, setup= 7:30, 9:40= DoneDay7, no sun today, worked on architecture, weeds, sky through tree. Drive= 9:49, Home= 10am.
There are a lot of weeds to go, the street shadow of the tree, the foreground tree foliage, the cars in front of the house and the guard rail.
TIP: Painting Trees: First do the tree's outline, then outline the big foliage, big branches, small foliage, small branches and the sky showing through the tree. Trees have a front, rniddle and back side. The front is in front of the branches, the middle branches are in front of the rear foliage. This painting is lacking the front foliage right now.
It is still raining...
May 12 and 13, 2014. I'm in a mean mood, this morning was raining like yesterday, I was up to paint at 5:30 and went back to sleep. 7:30 I was up and it still was raining, I was Ok with that until I called someone that lived close to the 6:55 painting spot, it was sunny and I felt bad. It was too late to go so I worked on my computer site and a pastel that I'm working on that's not finished.
Day 8 painting,
It rained again today but I went on location anyway, good move, I got an hour in before the rains came. The weeds, I drew them in with white paint and colored them in at home. I will have to check out my work tomorrow, if it's not raining..
Day 9 painting,
Painting 5-15-14, Leave house=6:35, Arrive=6:47, Setup=6:58, Photo=7:14, The sun comes and goes=7:36, 8:30=Saw a yellow '56 Thunderbird in perfect condition. 9:30=Did a lot, tree & weeds. Lot's of car toots, 9:56=Day Done, Leave=10;04, Home=10:16
Worked on the road, building, weeds, tree, guard rail, wash painting. It was a good day. Tomorrow I'll finished, Anthony has a Tuscan Villa, he stopped by and asked me to paint it. I like the color in the evening, it matches the suns rays. It's close to my friend Michael's House in Lower Kula where I did his jacaranda twice. Here's a cane house I did in Nahiku called Tom's House. Here's another cane house in Lahaina, this one is called Lahaina Cane House. My artist friend Piero Resta has a villa in Kaupo called Villa Tamiranda.
Day 10 painting finished,
Jacaranda Kula Glen 5-16-14, Leave house=6:51am, Arive=7:01, Setup=7:10, Fin#996, Leave=9:24
Finished the house, guard rail, tree, weeds. The reason I choose this painting was the difficulty rating and the greens, there are a lot of them. That's why it took 10 days instead of 7 or 8. Signed it at home, small touch-ups at home.
Mistake.. I put a gloss on before I shot the picture, if I have a glare when I shoot it I'm a dead man.
There was a glare, I fixed that by using only one light from above and adjusting the camera position.
