In doing research for a painting, I discovered that Don McLean songwriter extraordinaire- read some books on the life of Vincent Van Gogh and then wrote many songs with Van Gogh's life and paintings in mind. One very famous one was released in 1971 on his famous album AMERICAN PIE. "Starry-Starry Night."
Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me
This morning I did a painting which represents to me the above words:
"Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain"
6 x 24
6 x 24 piece of heavy linen paper with the horizon line drawn in
The first thing I do is apply a generous amount of white paint to the sky area using a 2 inch brush
I've darkened the photo so you can see the application of the white paint
Next using the 2 inch brush again, I throw in some blue for the sky - letting the undercoat of white dilute the blue as I move down to the horizon line
We now have a sky with some fair weather clouds
The next series of photos will be showing how I build up the layers of "grain" starting from the horizon line forward
The important part of this of course is to vary the height and color as I move forward into the FG. The process I use for building the "grain" is that of "dry brush" - no moisture on the brush what so ever and I use quick upward strokes
I now start to build in a darkness to the grasses that are in the foreground - this will give contrast to the lighter grasses in the BG as well as "push" these lighter grasses back further to the eye of the viewer
We now have a finished painting
I hope you enjoyed this DEMO as much as I enjoyed painting this. I am very moved by the song writing of Don McLean and believe I have tried to bring the emotion of his words into my painting.
JR :>)
