Monday, April 28, 2014

20 Steps Later

After taking a recent workshop with David Langevin, I thought it was time to practice using glazes. David works with glazes and veils, building his paintings up layer by layer. After going through several pages of notes, I decided to give it a try.

I picked my subject, sketched it out on canvas, and primed it with a warm Quin gold veil. I then methodically started to paint, step by step, recording each step on paper and with my camera.

20 steps later ... I had a painting.

In the beginning: manganese blue glaze over the leaves and the stem, makes a nice green. I purposely put the glaze on thinner and thicker in some areas adding more interest.



A glaze of quin gold really warmed up the sunflower and a veil of manganese blue cools the sky.

A glaze of quin magenta helps define the petals of the sunflower.


  
A lot more layers: glaze of purple dioxine, yellow veil for the highlights, another gold quin glaze and more blue veils in the sky.

As you can see from this closeup there is much going on as different layers of colour show through.

And the finished piece ...

I enjoyed this challenge. It is a more controlled way of painting then I am use to. You must think about each layer and the effect it will have on previous and subsequent layers before applying it. It is a fun way to paint with very interesting effects. 

As David Langevin would say "Only Caravaggio and Langevin paint this way." And now maybe Susan Schaefer can be added to that list?

Till Next Time ...
From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...
Susan