Last night after I had posted this painting onto my blog I set it up off to the side of the T V under a light I have set up for such viewing-which is something I do often-and while the Olympics played I studied it. The first thing that really grabbed me was the brush I had put in around the Deer. It was just too much. That bothered me more than the Buck Mule Deer being hidden. My wifes comment was the deer was too hidden. That sentiment was echoed in my blog comments from my good friend, Kay Abeyta. To me it wasn't so much as the deer being hidden as there was too much confusion with all that brush. So.. This afternoon I went back into the painting and painted over the brush. That was after this morning when I did some framing including building this frame for this painting. The liner is a linen mat and I wonder if it isn't too white? Awaitng comments. I know Kay will let me have it one way or the other. I have used the painting of this piece as a guiding tool for a number of artists out there who have asked a lot of questions both through my personal e-mail and in comments about my gouache procedure. I welcome all. I hope I have been able to answer most. I had mentioned to someone that the beauty of gouache is that you can paint dark over light and light over dark and do it all again. I took a darkened yellow ochre-almost a raw sienna color and with the right consistency of water to paint-painted right over the brush. Rather thickly and not too wet so that it had an opaque quality to it and would cover the dark. Did so with a #8 Filbert brush. Let it dry completely.[just a few minutes here in Wyoming]then with the right consistency, again painted lights and darks of grass and some brush back into the painting. Did add a little Cad Orange straight for leaves on some of that brush to pop it a little. Added a little more detail to the Buck to make him pop some and I think I am a lot happier with it. Will await comments and see if I really am??
I did download the pix as a larger image when one clicks the image here. That way you can get a little larger view of it.
12 comments:
It's perfect Gary. Love the frame and my thoughts with the white mat. It's perfect and really makes the painting pop. I love it.
Superb job Gary. definitely a favourite.
Gary- you are a true western artist. Your passion and love for the Wyoming wilderness really shows in you work.
Well, Mr. Gary, you pulled it together. I really like the frame and liner, sets the painting off very nice and doesn't take from your painting. In fact, it enables the colors to show off in the painting, I like that. But then you do a great job framing anyways.
Hope you are starting to feel the effectiveness of the antibiotic. Takes a couple of days for that.
Is this one of the paintings that you varnish?
I really like the water, it is beautiful. Good job. :-)
Thanks, dors. It is good to hear reinforcement on framing choices.
Thank you Perry. I was taken in by your great art work. Knowing a little about your part of the country you are capturing it beautifully.
I knew you would stop by Kay. Glad I made the right changes-just for you. Hee Hee.
I take my last anti-biotic pill tomorrow. Did take a couple of days to kick in. Feeling better today for first time in over a week.
Good call on the brush repaint! It looked good to begin with... now it looks even better!
Re: white mat... not sure on that one. I can't decide if it accents the painting or competes with it. I usually like a mat that's not the lightest or the darkest color since either one of those two extremes usually pull the eye toward it. But, I'm not a framing expert... just my two cents worth!
Thanks for the enlargement; there is such depth - 20 miles back to those mtns. and looking right down at the water - amazing! As to liner, for me it seems a bit too white. I used to frame and found that most whites need a bit of tan or blue in them - not such a stark white. But, ultimately, it's what you like that matters. Do you varnish this for protection?
I felt the over all painting worked so well during the early stages and each time i saw the development i was delighted. just wonderful Gary!
I think this is beautiful and am chagrined to find I hadn't even noticed the deer when I commented earlier. I clicked both paintings and while your changes are subtle, they are exquisite.
I rare put forth an opinion out there but since you asked, I tend to agree with you about the white mat. I think it would look better with a rust color, much as the little bush at the front of the back end of the deer. That would also be a complement to the sky and I think would really put the icing on the beautiful cake of this painting! Gorgeous work, Gary.
This is wonderful Gary, the removal of some of the brush to expose the deer really paid off.
As far as matting goes, I do like the linen mat. It brings a sense of airiness to the painting for me. I think you will fine a definite spit of opinion on this.
Gary, this is so beautiful. I loved it half way through. Deer like to hide so I had no problem that it wasn't the first thing one noticed. I nice little surprise bonus. The liner looks fine.
This clearer, crisper version of the deer minus landscape brush/weeds works very well with the mat and frame. The hidden deer gives a more impressionist feel and is a valid attempt too when it comes to portraying the moment in time as you found it. As for the choice of white mat over another, I'd really have to have the painting and various assorted mats in front of me physically to see what I'd like as "best." And my framer and those in a certain craft store are coming to know I have a personal thing for a black and gold combination. (Not saying it would work here.) Anyway, bottom line ... this finished work of yours turned out great.
Gary, I have to agree with Sherry (Autumn Leaves) on all accounts. It is a stunning painting, but I actually didn't notice the deer until I read someone else's comment about the deer in a previous blog, and yes a rust coloured mat would set it off perfectly.
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