Kate Withers - 'Painting Space'

**Update .. repainted this piece .. improved the composition from too linear .. more broken areas .. bigger trees and road .. increased color .. added ravens ..  compare and see what you think :) 30x30 oil     gallery-wrapped canvas     - view at the Rim Rock Restaurant in Torrey Utah - Previous version: And in it's polished wood frame:

Finding the right colors for this piece was a challenge..paints are so limited in their range.   Many of the colors used in this piece are straight from the tube.. no white at all.  My inspiration was the intense molten colors of sunset on the rock formations near Torrey.. the beginning of the magic hour.  8x10      oil on canvas Private Collection

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!

Here is the design I will be working with.. this is a fairly complete underpainting from which to adjust colors and values.. just a normal stage in development of the concept.

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.

Still working on this piece...getting there. I am posting all these versions of a painting so you and my students can see how a painting might evolve. Complex works of art demand lots of problem-solving.. and answers that serve both the original conception and the painting's evolution towards a conclusion that presents itself as felt. This conclusion is usually not the artist's choice alone...the painting speaks and has it's own life.. it seeks full symbolic manifestation. The artist acts as a medium and a partner in this process.

I think there must be 20 pounds of paint on this by now... have been experimenting with colors and shape changes.. much easier to do in Photoshop than with wet paint layers. Now to refining from this stage and figuring out how I want to do the water. Water needs to be clean and not fuzzy.. so there is work to be done.

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!

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.

Slow going on this piece... getting the values and lighting right is a challenge. There is something about this that I am not happy with.. haven't been able to put my finger on it yet.. but I will. The halfway mark is usually the most difficult part of the painting. Each piece 'wants' to come to fruition and needs me to concentrate and be open.. it's a synergistic process. The next post will be the finished piece [maybe].. and I expect it will be quite different than this image [like what happened to the "Queen of Spades Range']. So back to the easel!

Last night I quickly did the color underpainting for this piece.. prussian blue, cadmium red light, and an earthy light red. I was able to do this so fast because the drawing I did earlier was easy to follow [one reason why drawing is important]. Of course there are always areas of a composition that are problematic.. but eventually they will be designed to belong. The concept has to do with the awe one feels when driving into Zion Canyon.. intimate yet grand.

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!