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landscape #1 (cricket view)
Landscape #1 (cricket view) | 38 x 57 inches | oil on canvas 2009 | more paintings >>
a short tutorial
THE PROCESS
Ever wonder how a painting is created? See how this painting was born in the series of photos below.
I first build the stretcher from ripped lumber. I stretch the canvas (12 oz. unprimed cotton duck) and gesso the surface with two coats of white gesso. I don’t sand between layers because I like the surface to have a heavy tooth. If you want a smooth surface, then sand between each layer of dried gesso. I allow the last coat of gesso dry for 24 hours. Now I can brush on a fairly opaque wash of acrylic burnt umber (dark brown) paint. Adding a middle value as a background is an important step for me because of the way I allow edges to show through the finished layers of paint. A middle value ground also gives darks and lights more contrast. Another overnight dry and my surface is ready for the drawing.
I draw the major elements with white conte crayon (white shows up brightly against the burnt umber wash), and then began blocking in the dark elements of the tree line in the background. Then I block in my sky, using the same color of light blue to draw in some cloud shapes. I’m working very fast and loose at this point with thinned down paint. When paint is thinned with turpentine, it’s known as lean paint because there is less oil in the paint. Working lean makes the paint more liquid for drawing. A side benefit of working lean at first is that drying time is shortened. It’s also a good practice to use thin paint (lean) first, and then thicker paint (fat) so the final surface of your painting doesn’t crack. This is known as the fat-over-lean principal.
I’m still on the fast track here, working in some rough modeling of the clouds and quickly establishing some values.
Now that I have the sky and trees blocked in, I focus on the all important field. If I can get this right, the illusion of receding space will emerge. For some reason, when I first began as a painter, this was the most difficult part of the process. In my mind, I always over complicate things, I guess. At this point, I am unsure about the clouds. They seem a bit too important right now. But I’ll wait to make a decision until I get further along with the stems and flowers in the foreground. I add some loose drawings of plant stems here to fill in the more prominent broad leaves. Because this is a dusk scene, I’m also leaving the back row of trees very simple and dark to minimize detail. Minimizing detail in back creates a focus on the detail in the front, which creates a sense of depth as well.
Added some highlights to the grasses and stems here. Worked in some gold colors to help unify the back and foreground a bit. The clouds are still bothering me. But I’ll be patient until I get closer to being finished with the rest of the painting. What’s bothering me? The clouds seem less than friendly. They seem more brooding than dynamic. I think they need less contrasting values from dark to light.
The grey haze that was between each of the smaller clouds was really bothering me. The whole sky looked just too muddy for my taste. So I got rid of the mud by repainting the entire background and am very pleased with the result. Now I can definitely see that I will have to do some drastic remodeling of all the clouds to resolve the lack of unity overall. Plus, I can see that whiter, puffier clouds are in order.
Ahhhh. Now we have arrived. The feeling of whimsy and joyful optimism reigns! There is only a hint of the scary underbelly of real life visible at the bottom of the clouds. I don’t mind a bit of brooding. But The dominant theme of my work is the happy, shiny part. There’s enough pain in the world without me adding to it, after all! Thanks for making it to the end! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me!
I lied. After walking past this painting for a few days, I changed the whole cloud system again, this time unifying the various disparate shapes into a cohesive whole. Thanks Pax, for your insight!
state of the studio
GROUP EXHIBITION
Can you make it to my next group exhibition? Come to see Common Ground at the 52nd Annual Beloit and Vicinity Exhibition at the Wright Museum of Fine Art. “Competition was fierce and the jurors were limited in the number of works they could accept. Of the nearly 150 entries submitted, 32 works from 22 artists were selected for the 2009 exhibition.”
Opening reception: Friday, June 12 from 5-9 p.m.
Closing: Friday, July 24
Located: Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College, Beloit, WI
why i paint
“Once something is sketched, it belongs to me and I thoughtfully arrange it on my painting surface where it is reborn.”
Todd Starks creates paintings using a variety of visual languages to talk about emotional space, shape, color, pattern and humor. With a painterly style, Starks carefully builds up impasto layers, using wet into wet oil paint, and allowing shards of underpainting to show through. Formally, the pieces are about composition, color harmonies, shape, and texture, yet each piece reveals a sensory and spritual connection to the landscape around him, and a dynamic interplay between conscious and subconscious thought.
