"A River Runs Through It", plein air oil painting by Sharon Lynn Williams

"A River Runs Through It", plein air oil painting, 9x12"
$595.00 framed, FREE S&H

This is the second painting from my day in Caresland. This one was a real stretch, physically, as I took parts from my far left as well as my far right to make the composition. Creative rearranging at its best. Had to steal the title from one of my favorite movies -it just wouldn't let me go!

Thought I would show you some process shots, so you can get an idea of how I work. I work on masonite, that I have sealed with 2 coats of GAC 100, and then gessoed with orange gesso (what a hoot -it is made by Holbein). The block in of the darks is done with Ultramarine blue and Quin. Gold and turps.

I have blocked in the sky and the distant river bank, as well as adding some darks that I will be needing for my foreground. I like to get everything covered with interesting colour and then go back and decide what, if anything, needs tweaking. Just like I work with watercolours as a matter of fact.

Here I have begun work on the large trees and the shore. I like to leave some of the transparent darks showing to contrast with the more opaque lights. The river and reflections are also blocked in. I like to key in my lightest light early in the painting so I know what my boundaries are. Also I try to control the amount of the orange underpainting that shows through, but I really like little bits peaking out to enliven the painting.

This is the way it looked when I finished on site with it (compare with the first image in this post to see what's different -kind of like Where's Waldo for artists!). After I brought it home I did some tidying up, especially in the water reflections and I did some work on the large river bank in the background to push it back a bit.

This is my setup -I am using my Open Box M pochade box, which I love, and my Best Brella (which you can't really see here, but it is on top of the pole to the right). I drilled holes in a block of wood and glued it to the side extension so I had somewhere to store my dirty brushes. A stack of heavy paper towels are clamped on as well, a turp pot hangs from a clip at the front right, and a garbage bag hangs from my tripod. My colours are pre-squeezed out along three sides of the box (I like to have LOTS of colours to choose from), and the mixing area is in the middle. As this is a 10x13.5" box, I have plenty of room to mess around. When I get home I store the box in the deep freeze, and the paint stays just like new for the next time I go out. Pretty sweet set-up -goes up and down in just 2 minutes.

Enjoy!

To purchase this, or commission your own painting, please email me.