Tuesday, March 27, 2012

My Uncle's House..... Tuscany for Dan, another update

I've worked on this a bit more.  I refined the windows, worked on the stone wall some more, and added the path.  I think I will start the tree next, then I'll know if the path is right.  I think I also need to refine the greenery coming off the left wall, it's looking a bit fuzzy.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

My Uncle's House.... Tuscany for Dan, Pastel 10" x 15", Painted on Uart 400 grit sanded paper

I thought I would post a work in progress here.  I'm currently working on a commission for a dear friend that visited Tuscany Italy recently.  This is a painting of his uncle's house.  I started out with a watercolor underpainting on Uart 400 grit sanded paper.  Here are a couple of stages, this top one is where I'm at currently.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.


This is the previous stage:
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.


And some more steps:
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.


© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

The watercolor underpainting with the sky blocked in using pastels (I forgot to take a photo before starting the sky - oops!):
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The challenge to simplify, a slide show

You may remember that just a short time ago I posted a painting I call "6th Street".  I painted it as part of a challenge by artist Terry Miura to simplify a city scene.  Artists from around the world took up the challenge, and they've submitted their paintings to Terry.  He has taken all the paintings and made a slide show.  You can see the slide show here.  If you want to see the paintings as a collage, take a look at them here.  It was a great learning experience, it really forced me to do something out of my comfort zone.  I will forever look at cityscapes differently, and now maybe I'll be more encouraged to paint them!  Thanks again Terry!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Sanctuary, Pastel, 17" x 11" Painted on Wallis sanded paper

I call this painting "Sanctuary" because it really is of a bird sanctuary.  It is a beautiful, peaceful place full of georgous birds.  There are cranes, heron, kingfishers, hawks, and all of the "ordinary" birds one might see at home.  I'm sure there are more unusual ones, I'll have to go back and take a look.  I'll use any opportunity to get more great reference photos.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

A challenge to simplify...... "6th Street", Pastel, 11" x 14", Painted on Uart sanded paper

Artist Terry Miura posted a challenge on his blog to simplify a citiscape.   Artists from all over the globe are participating, and you can see the results on his blog.  There is some really beautiful work, thank you Terry for challenging me to work outside my comfort zone - waaaay outside my comfort zone!

I found I really enjoyed painting this, so much so that I just may try another sometime.  I honestly thought that I wouldn't be able to accomplish the goal but I did, for me this is pretty 'simplified'.  No windows on the buildings, not much detail in the cars, and the distant ones are just dots!  The trees don't even have much detail, this was a real accomplishment for me.

I took the original photo and cropped it to what I thought would be a pleasing composition.  That was one of his "rules", crop the photo, don't paint everything you see.

Here are my steps, starting with a watercolor underpainting done on Uart sanded paper, 400 grit.
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

For my next step, I just started pasteling.  I worked from back to front, just because it felt right.  No real reason other than it felt natural.  I used strictly Ludwig pastels, and this painting just intensified my need for more of these lucious pastels.  They are just georgous, fantastic for working on edges.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

You can see in this step I started painting the cars.  They were much easier to paint knowing I didn't need to put in any detail.  I just concentrated on the larger shapes.  I used the colors I used in the buildings, I tried to keep my palette harmonious.  The same reds were used in the signs as were used in the cars.  Even the blues and purples are the same.  Terry is right, selecting a color palette and sticking to it keeps everything harmonious.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Here is my final step, I completed the cars, put in the distant red lights, and added some street "lines".  I'm calling this painting "6th Street" because the street sign actually reads 6th Street.  I have no idea where this is, but it is "6th Street".....
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.