Bringing the Everyday to Life

Hello Everyone!  As promised, here is another step-by-step painting demonstration.  I did this for a class I taught a couple of weeks ago.  I painted from a photograph I took, which as you can see is not really exciting, but I liked the shape of the barn and the shadows.   That is what I look for in a good photo to paint from.  It is not really about the exact subject.                       After doing a small value sketch in my sketchbook, I drew out the composition on my paper.  I decided what to change and where to simplify as I did the value sketch.  You [...]

Like I said before, this may seem like a lame finishing step, but if the previous steps were done than the painting should finish itself. Well, not totally.  We do still have to paint it.  However, if you have visualized your final painting there is nothing left to do but finish it...   I will explain how I generally finish a painting.  I can't give you an exact formula because I don't have one.  There isn't and shouldn't be a formula because than my paintings would get too cookie cutterish (yes I made that word up).   Sometimes I start with the back ground and work [...]