Rain's Antidote

I am beginning to gather studies and drawings and renderings......and memories of summer sun. Tore a grapevine off a fence and did a canvas study...aged it with umber and raw sienna and some spritzes of alcohol. 

When I finished I laughed at myself.  It looks like it might slither out of a corner, climb up my leg and clasp me around the throat.  I swear, I can draw a rock and make it look nervous.  I should run around the block three times and meditate before  drawing.

My new project is a series of three arches...approximately 11'x7' done on canvas for a sheltered courtyard in a Spanish style house on one of Seattle's lake front properties.

When I went to the site, I immediately thought of the Spanish coast....cliffs and brilliant light, , olive trees, regimental lines of grape vines, and goats in stark rocky meadows.  

I thought something like this example of an Andalusian courtyard....sepias...drawing with a few gouache like accents of color would be terribly chic. (Victorian study...no attribution.)

My client wanted a more gentle Italianate coast, so we came to a compromise. Note the martello tower, but a field with grass and sunflowers.  

However, the client wanted a richer palatte and did not want the parrot cage. She wanted more color and more Tuscan. Ack! I still think something is needed in that space.  If any of my readers have suggestions........

I may end up doing this ala Zuber style, with opaque paint and infinitesimal increments of value and hue.  If I do that, I can get a buddy to come in and work with me to finish quickly.  That style is almost paint by numbers but has a sophisticated look.

I do like working HUGE and then  tiny....back and forth.  Probably tears my mind to shreds.

Comments

[Theresa Cheek]

Sneaky grapevines with ulterior motives! LOL! It is true, our artwork is a mirror of our emotions we have when creating it...
I am a sucker for those sepia studies like the one you posted and the arches are so nice! I would vote for the Zuber angle! What ever you do, it will be a Carrasco !

[Jordan Flight 45]

It is not miserable to be blind; it is miserable to be incapable of en-during blindness.

[steve shriver]

I think the Zuber style is a good one. You seem to have lost a bit of your values punch from the pencil to the watercolor. Look carefully at the Zuber stuff to see how they use value in color. Backgrounds are all in cool tones and light values, foreground has much more contrast and saturation. Great start- can't wait to see how it turns out.

[judyart]

Great idea Jennifer. I am sorry I'm reading this a little late. I can definitely sympathize with you on the direction the client wanted to go. These are the pitfalls of painting a commission vs. painting what you want. But, at least you have work. In these tough times for many artists, it is a good thing to have a nice job that can still feel enriching to create (even if it is a teensy bit stifling). If it's not too late, I might suggest some hanging vines in the area of the missing bird cage. Like they are growing on the outside of the building and hanging down to be seen through the arch. Maybe even a little on one or both of the other two arches too. giving it another dimension.