Day Twelve: "Murder Of Crows"

What a Difference a day (or two) makes!  I was down in Phoenix over the weekend on a paint-run and to check out a few venues for a show... (no luck so far with that).  Now I'm ready to jump back in!

Boy, did you get a chance to see that full moon setting this morning?  It looked like a giant yellow bubble sitting on the rim of the forest.  The contrast between the creamy glowing moon and the deep denim-blue of the early morning sky were very close to the color palette I am using today.

I must apologize for my photography, the colors just don't translate well.  

I've made a few changes since the last installment.  The crows at top center and far right each got better profiles, and the lower center crow was moved left and down.  Though I'm still unhappy with the shape of the crow lower at left, he now looks less like a chicken (and that is a step in the right direction)!

However (as with all painting),when you fix one problem you usually make two more!

For me painting is like building a blind puzzle, in that I find myself shaping and coloring pieces to fit an image that doesn't exist outside of my head.  In a successful outcome, none of the pieces will look out of place or inharmonious.

One focus of attention for me today has been the fabric tangled into the barbed wire.  On occasion, when I need a visual aid, I will construct a model (see right).  I find using un-patterned fabric allows me to see the shapes better. Then after the movement of the fabric is established, I can add the desired patterning.

My goal is to achieve an abstracted likeness of the figures from the original sketch.  Looking at the full image of the painting you can begin to see the arm extended out to the right, and (in the negative space) a seated figure is beginning to appear.  With the placement of the ochre lines (the upright and the diagonal) on the left half of the painting, you can see references to the figure on the left of the original sketch.  I don't intend for this painting to be a literal translation of the original sketch.  I'm using the figures as reference points.  Think of this as a way to organize and determine placement in my composition.

If all goes well in the finished painting, the overall composition of the wire, the tangled fabric, the weeds and wood, and the crows, will conjure shapes that represent the figures original drawing. 

Until tomorrow, paint well...