5 photos from Rebirthing the Classics opening night at Art6

debriefing follows

This shot shows the hall looking towards the front door on Broad St. with my work on both sides. The camera shots on the wall show the original masterpieces from the VMFA and Hollywood Cemetery that are the inspiration for each piece. Last Sat. was the day to take our entries to Art6. I loaded up my car in the morning and got there at noon. As I was unloading my work in the gallery Helene talked about putting my smaller pieces in the hall. That meant a bigger showing for me so I drove home and loaded my car again. I also brought 4 landscapes and some things I made up from my imagination. They don’t all fit the theme but it’s ok because they show continuity.

underpainting / spillpond / Meadow Farm

I worked about 40 hours on this painting. That’s the time I spent mixing colors and painting, but not including the time I spent cleaning my brushes and palette, or packing and unpacking my supplies, or the time driving back and forth.

I work for two or three hours at a time in plein air depending on the weather. Since I’m not rushing, my concentration is always fresh. I think working on it every day for a few hours, and taking my time helps me be sure there’s no weak places in my painting. You don’t need to see every step, because a lot of days I’m just correcting what I did the day before. I hope you can compare these four photos and see the layers of glazes.

tobacco barn / charcoal

I found a great place to draw at Meadow Farm in Glen Allen. It’s not far from here, just north of Richmond.  The farm is from before the Civil War.  It looks much safer than painting at the river, and it’s real pretty there. This is a log cabin tobacco barn.

underpainting / tobacco barn

I never wanted to paint a barn before, because I’ve seen a million barn paintings and they’re all boring.  My first sketch was too large on the paper and I didn’t like it. Then I decided not to make a “barn” painting. Instead, I did a landscape of fields and trees with a small barn in it. Then I enjoyed working on it.

glazes on fields and trees

I made a total of 10 trips to Meadow Farm to work on this painting, staying two or three hours at a time. And I did the sky glazes at home. We had so many cloudy days, when the sun finally came out I had to go over it again with more glazes to punch up the light and shadows. The barn and tree on the right are still the underpainting here.