Foreground Sweep... Lay In's Near Completion

Day #5-Friday, January 14th

I raised the whole canvas about 2 feet and set to work working up the lay in right-to-left across the entire foreground. I felt that Winter and Fall at this point lacked a "presence" as strongly painted as the other two... and to maintain the soft gradation and tradition between the seasons... these other two had to "speak" out more clearly.

I worked quickly... washing in flat washes of diluted colour for the snow and fall foliage... paying absolutely no attention to any other purpose than to reduced the "blackness of the toned canvas. I did... however "reserve certain locations of black where I was still uncertain of the outcome I wished.(much as is the case in working a watercolour... when one reserves the white of the paper).

My next task was to add some variations in light and shadow in the snow passages... but lightly... just to infer where interest might be later on. At this point I also made some decisions and started thinking about how later vertical elements would come into play... and effect the horizontal feel already established.

My attention then was directed towards establishing colour and pattern possibilities in the foreground water... which occupies a very central part of the foreground space. I added some basic ideas for bull rushes... lily pads... shoreline ice and brush. Those elements were key to the process of "marrying" the seasons through acknowledging the slight changes in them from season to season.

I am going to take a breather over the weekend to be fully with family... but i will certainly be looking and evaluating my strategies for making the final assault on finishing the project next week. I am well on the way to "seeing" the final image already in my brain... on the canvas. As I said earlier... years of early thought and planning combined with decades of seeing this scene in all seasons makes the process not necessarily easier...but more "imaginable." The term I used way back... "Imagineering" is the act of creating from "Within"... a collage of what is first looked at... then "seen"... then felt... and finally brought into reality. The "impression" then is the embodiment of visual... spiritual and tactile responses to the outdoor experience!

Have a great weekend! More to report next week! Thank "You"... for checking in!

Good Painting to ALL!