Kate Withers - 'Painting Space'

 Remembering my time at Dead Horse State Park .. smoldering red sunset .. last glow over an immense landscape.  This was an experiment to see if I could accomplish a tonal painting .. colors that are similar and close in values .. using restraint. Plus I wanted to use some of my many red and violet oils without doing flowers ..the usual way to use lots of reds. Here is my impression from that famous viewpoint ..  acquire at Gallery 24 - Torrey Utah

Here is one of the paintings I was working on this past winter .. a 24x24 .. from my imagination and recall of the desert mountains found near Death Valley .. big alluvial fans with Persian patterns .. still working out the design and color.  By comparison .. plein air is much easier :) * Edit update:  This painting project no longer exists .. I wasn't able to take it where I wanted it to go .. headed for the burn pile.  You have to be able to let go and not get too attached even if you worked hours and hours on it [like this one].  I haven't given up on the concept tho .. always loved the patterns made by water .. even in the deep desert. And another imaginary piece that I may try to finish someday .. 

9x12       oil on canvas panel       SOLD Desert plants have always fascinated me ... how do they survive and thrive in the harsh climate of the deserts? ...especially in the furnace-like conditions down on the valley floor of Death Valley.   This oil study is of one such hardy old survivor... which seemed to glory in it's environment.

5x7  oil on canvas panel   SOLD An oil study from a different perspective.. a bird's eye view above the northern canyons and the turquoise waters of Lake Powell in Utah... truly a painter's paradise.

Off for an extended plein-air painting camping expedition for a month.. so this studio piece will have to wait until I return. Here is how it stands as of this morning.  Really been hot here in the desert and in the studio.. looking forward to the high elevations of Utah!

20x30          oil on canvas           NFS Finally! I am calling this finished.... cruising in for the night on the magnificent Lake Powell. This started from a photo from one of my houseboat expeditions.. [it has changed significantly from that image]... to one expressing the beauty of reflected light into this unknown cove and the peace of nightfall... Sanctuary.

This is the kind of painting that one could re-paint many times. Since the basic composition is interesting.. I decided to experiment further.. more shape changes and increased the chroma ... a strong red orange light is being reflected from an unknown source on the left.. plus there is still the last rays of sunset on the top rocks. I will continue to refine this idea until it all comes together.  However.. since I have been working on this exclusively for so long now.. I am looking forward to the next project.. so this will be wrapped up soon. More color/ value adjustments on the rocks and then the final glistening effects on the water.

I decided on changing the shapes of the foreground rocks and tweaking the other forms somewhat. Also you can see the first layer of color on the water. I want to make it look like still dark water with a glossy foreground bow wake.. coming into 'sanctuary' for the night.

Since the rocks are nearly finished [except for fine touches]...  will be painting the water next. If all goes well it should not take long. I put a thin glaze on the water surface already... and when that dries.. I will add more warm glazes and a few floaters on the glassy surface. The time of day and mood indicates a calm surface and a deep dark color with glowing reflections... now I just have to do it :)

Here is where this painting stands today.. I decided to emphasize the reflected light coming into the cove from the left.. lightens the formations considerably.. but since there is a lot of light in the sky yet I think this will work. I added a few bushes on the slopes.. and adjusted values again [and again]. Rocks are about 90% done.. soon on to the water challenge!

Today's effort focused on painting the sky and cooling the formations as they turned from the reflected light. More work to do!

I am into the refinement stage on the rocks now... the water reflections won't be painted until the formations are 90% finished. Time to get out my mediums and start mixing with the oils for the final layers. I will be using a high-gloss mixture of spike solvent, varnish, stand oil and turps for the water.. and a dammar varnish, stand oil, wax/turps mix for the rocks and sky [a much more matte medium]... this will add to the sandstone texture instead of too glossy. I also might pull out the palette knife for a few thick pieces of paint on the foreground rocks. Since there is not a lot of depth in this composition.. I will use some texture for contrast.

I thought this painitng was going to be rather easy to do...no such luck. I am still working my way through the rock structures and trying to decide if I need to make it warmer or cooler. Slow going on this...here is the current version as of this evening. I am also in the middle of creating a new website from scratch...so my studio time has been usurped. Gotta be done tho!

Here is today's effort.. more painting on the rocks and the dark dark underpainting for the water. After this dries somewhat.. I will apply thin paint in lighter colors for the reflections.. but the rocks need to be mostly finished before attempting this.

Taking the underpainting from the previous post further... refined the drawing of the shapes and experimented with this uncommon limited palette: naples yellow, jaune brilliant, yellow ochre, orange ochre, mars violet, permanent madder, cobalt turquoise, cobalt blue and mineral violet... basically using the complementary pair.. yellows and purples. I can mix wonderful soothing colors from this combination.. the mood and light of this must be maintained by close values and subtle temperature changes within the shapes. Interesting!

Here is the initial underpainting of my current project.. cobalt turquoise and magenta only.. 20x30 canvas. This will be painted from a photo I took while working at Lake Powell one summer while on one of my many houseboat expeditions. The concept is on feeling.. the quiet hour at sunset looking for a good place to shelter the boat for the night. The water is usually calm then... the desert winds dying down... the massive rocks veiled in soft grayed colors. Peace reigns.

24x24     oil on canvas I decided on a major change... now there is a larger juniper tree in the foreground and more bushes on the slopes. I needed to break-up the orange shape on the right.. it was too much and was competing with the main focus.. the towering citadel of stone. I also needed to balance the dark masses ..more of an entrance feeling. So don't be afraid to go for it.

Finished!.. [well except for a couple more strokes of paint]. On to the next project.. I'm thinking skies. The early spring skies have been amazing here in southern Nevada.. and I feel I want to do something more abstract and not as detailed. I need a break!

About 7/8 done.. getting closer. These large paintings are fun but can take a long time to complete.. probably a couple more days [weeks] in the studio. You can compare this version to the earlier underpainting post and see how it has evolved. Colors used are a fairly limited palette... naples yellow, cad orange, two earths [light red and terra rosa], two blues [prussian and ultramarine].. and a violet. 24x24 oil on gallery-wrapped canvas. Onwards.

The concept for this piece is based on a b&w photo I took while working in Zion Canyon last summer.   From that.. I drew with a brush and some muddy oil paint I had on my palette diluted with lots of thinner... just a rough sketch on the canvas.  This is only a guide.. the painting will evolve as it will when I add colors. Stay tuned!