Finished! I am finished with the painting part of the barn paintings. I can't believe it's over and that I now have time to clean the house, sort out the kid's clothing, grocery shop and clear out my terribly overgrown gardens. I have three more days before the work will be delivered so I can paint the cradles, put hangers on them, photograph and do the paperwork, at a very leisurely pace.
On Friday I painted the last one (pictured above). It totally cooperated with my precarious near burn out mental state and just painted itself. All I did in a second painting session was lighten the foreground a bit on the lower right side. On Saturday and Sunday I spent a few hours each day touching up that piece as well as the two other pieces as they required a bit more layering and a few slight changes. The color of the sky in this piece:
gave me some problems. I went through many variations on blue before I accidentally ended up with this. I put a darker layer of Byzantine blue, mixed with a touch of red over the whole area. I wasn't too sure about that either, so I started to rub it off. I rubbed off the area around the sign and Doug, who was in the studio talking to me, said that it looked good like that. So I wiped off the lower area of the sky and left the rest darker, then I went back and tightened up the letters of the sign a bit. Gotta love those accidents! I also tried to change the purple in the foreground but nothing worked and so I have decided to stick with the purple. I think it makes the other colors really pop.
Sunday, I did the final coat on the large pieces, and gessoed several panels in preparation for the show in November. I have about four underpaintings that are ready to go and so I plan to start those today. I need about 15 pieces for that show, so I have to get right down to business again.
Over the next week or so, I will be posting the "official" jpegs of the barns from this project. I hope you all enjoyed following the progress of these pieces over the last two weeks. I am glad that I decided to continue to post during this time - having to report my progress gave me the extra little shove that I think I needed to finish all of this. So thank you to everyone who kept reading and commenting-it was so great to have the feedback!
8 comments:
Woohoo!! Congratulations for getting the paintings done.
Blogging really can provide some of the motivation necessary to keep going when things get tough. I believe that the biggest value of blogging is the internal value to myself - and not what my readers gain (if anything!) from reading my ramblings. It inspires me to be the artist I want to be - and hence write about.
Lisa, thanks!
I hadn't really considered that it would be motivating to write about this project, but it was and I will remember it for the next time!
Congratulations Tracy!!
You have accomplished an amazing series of beautiful paintings. I love this one. The colors and simplicity is superb.
It was great seeing your progress. Hope you do it again in the near future.
Now, if you haven't done so already, take a deep inhale of breath, deeper now, yeah, now slowly release. Ok, inhale again so you don't pass out. Can you feel the good vibes? You deserve it. Take care.
I have thouroughly enjoyed this process. And i am happy that we coulf provide that little extra push for you. Looks great.
Thanks, June for the compliment and for the relaxation advice, though I nearly hyperventilated with all of that breathing!
Thanks Shan, I like that pink one too. And so did Doug. It's extremely rare for him to say "Don't touch a thing" but that was his response about this one.
Meno, glad you enjoyed hearing about all of this and I do think the blog was an essential part of the process this time.
Your blog is really motivating to me .... and makes me want to write a bit more on mine. Its definitely therapeutic to put the feeling on paper!
Its been wonderful and totally awesome watching you juggle everything to produce these recent paintings.
Thank you for finding the time to write about it all.
Do you ever sleep?!!
Well done Tracey! Great series of work. I was very upset for a little while because I lost your blog, but I found it again yesterday and have just caught up on all the huge amount of work you have been doing. It's very inspiring for me as I really need to increase my studio production. I've also started a blog and I'm learning how it really does help motivate you to get out into the studio when you can see in black and white how little you are getting done!
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Lesly. Sleep! I do usually manage to get my 6-7 hours a night, which is just the right amount for me.
Lauren, I am happy to hear that I may be even the slightest bit inspiring. Glad you found the blog again and I look forward to watching your progress.
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