Journey Between an Artist and a Painting: Part I

 

“Long Road Through the Winter Blues”

 Pastel painting, 11 ½ x 15 ¼ framed.

Tara Holdner posted this photo. The road winding between snowbanks towards the forest and mountain immediately captured my attention. My mind was already imagining what I could do with this scene. I asked and received permission to use it for a painting reference. I always like to give acknowledgement to the person who took the original photo.

I usually prefer to do landscapes in a more horizontal orientation, so I re-edited the photo and printed it as so. My goal is not to replicate the photo, just use it as a reference. I always put my own spin on the scenes.

This is is the initial small 6 x 9 sketch I did at the kitchen table. Then, in the studio, when I re-drew the layout onto a sheet of BFK Rives paper taped to an easel, I revamped the composition a bit. I can only work so long as my arm hurts raising it to paint, which means I work in small stints.

Progress is made over the next week as I first concentrated on the sky, clouds, and mountains. I used many shades of blue and darker details using a black charcoal pencil.

I often struggle with titles. Some ideas that came to me included: “Winter Becomes Her,” “She Becomes Winter,” or “Winter Blues” (as I was just listening to Elton John’s “I Think That’s Why They Call it the Blues.” Then changed it to “Winter’s Beautiful Blues.” Still unsure… “Winter Sings the Blues…” But what about the road? Should there be some reference to the road? “Road through the Blues?” “Long Road through the Blues?”

I try to also let the picture tell me which direction to choose, but sometimes I still can’t decide and will ask for ideas when I post the progress on FB. People always suggest wonderful titles, but then I have to decide which one really fits the scene and how it resonates with me.

I’m always amazed at the struggles. Each painting has its quirks and challenges. I played around with nuances in snowbanks and hills. I added ridge details to the mountains and did more with tree lines. I added a different shade of blue to some of the trees.

The hardest part was the foreground and the snowbanks along the road. This was my first time doing these kinds of snowbanks... a real experiment figuring out how to get that to look real. I reshaped the road a bit, too.

I also debated how to blur the mountains and background trees to help create distance. I chose not to put in the building that was in the original photo.

 But there comes a time when I have to stop picking at it and call it done. Heck, every time I look, I can see something to “fix.” In the end, I was very pleased with how this came out.