Painting a Painting

I thought you might like to see a little of the nitty-gritty of actually painting a painting, so I have taken a series of photos of the painting that I did yesterday.

Here's the original photograph that I was working from, of the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland.

Here's the canvas.  It's primed Belgian linen, 32" x 48", and has had a yellow ground put on it.  I've drawn in the rough shapes of the composition in thin brown paint.

Putting in the sky, using a large metal palette knife and small watercolour brush....

Using the palette knife to apply the large marks of paint for the sea.

 

Using turps and a small watercolour brush to put detail in between the large gestural marks.

 

 

Marking in the dark areas of the foreground.

 

Using the end of an old paintbrush as a scribe to draw into the paint surface, revealing the coloured underpaint.

 

Putting in the flowers.  This is the tricky bit, and involves industrial quantities of paint and quick movements to keep the colours clean.

 

Inscribing into the paint.

Finished painting!