(mouse-over to magnify / click to expand)
|
(mouse-over to magnify / click to expand)
Sep 5, 2014
Media: Oil Sketch on Centurion Oil Primed Linen Panel
With additional coat of Williamsburg Lead Primer
Size: 5x7 in
Sold
A day was spent in refitting and resupply, as I needed
to have my tires rotated at the local Les Schwab outlet, and also my front
brake pads replaced; food items were the resupply; the day after, I found the
above view. It was the fog bank
obscuring the distant headland that caught my attention, not as the main
subject, but as a backdrop for the composition of the sea-stacks; incidentally
that headland is California. The
interesting wave action in the foreground was an un-expected bonus and became
the real subject of the sketch. To the
right and off the panel there is a narrow arch in the island, which is not
conducive for painting on-site since once would have to stand where the surf is
breaking to really do it justice, or work from photos. The elliptical wave coming in from the right,
however, has squeezed through that arch and has now spread out, as we here
observe it, as it surges into a meeting
engagement with the smaller wave which has come around the island and
through the rocks and stacks, thus losing power and becoming smaller by the
time the two make contact. In military
terms a meeting engagement takes
place when two opposing forces make contact with one another, usually
inadvertently, when both forces have been on the march during a fluid situation
on the battlefield, and when front lines have yet to be established; the above
waves seem to be having their own perpetual version of such. Back to an imprimatura of Venetian Red, upon
which the compositional block-in was drawn with a brush in Ultramarine mixed
with M. Graham's Walnut Alkyd Medium so that it would set up tacky early,
hopefully by the time I worked in the sky and sea. It seems to have done so. The block-in is necessary especially in this
case when after a couple of hours both the light and tide changed quite
radically; fog banks also came and went later on, but the light and shadow
areas had been established in the block-in, and so the sketch was easily
completed. The pigments used were Yellow
Ochre, Venetian Red, Cerulean and Ultramarine Blues a minor amount of Viridian
in the sea, and a minor amount of Naples Yellow Genuine from Vasari ( I had
some on the palette already), which was used in the Ultramarine and Yellow
Ochre mixed green in the light parts of the foliage on the left-hand sea-stack. Cremnitz White was the main white, but for
the foam of the foreground waves I used a mixture of Maimeri Cararra Marble
putty mixed with Titanium White. This
Maimeri marble dust mixture adds texture to the colours it is mixed with and
also lightens the colours without giving them that chalky look that can happen
when a pigment is mixed only with white, especially with Titanium White; mixed
with the Titanium White as here, its usage was specifically for the texture
effects. Please NOTE! Delicate souls turn aside from the following. As an aside, I was visited
during the night by some varmint who left a calling card in the form of a berry
filled turd outside my truck ... I expect it was reminding me I'm visiting his
territory. It didn't seem large enough
for a bear; more coyote sized, but do coyotes also eat berries? Unfortunately my book on animal scats is not
with me. Evidentiary photos have been
taken for later possible identification of the likely suspect. Meanwhile I'm
keeping my bear spray close to hand, should the perpetrator attempt a
confrontation ... or a meeting engagement.
A day was spent in refitting and resupply, as I needed
to have my tires rotated at the local Les Schwab outlet, and also my front
brake pads replaced; food items were the resupply; the day after, I found the
above view. It was the fog bank
obscuring the distant headland that caught my attention, not as the main
subject, but as a backdrop for the composition of the sea-stacks; incidentally
that headland is California. The
interesting wave action in the foreground was an un-expected bonus and became
the real subject of the sketch. To the
right and off the panel there is a narrow arch in the island, which is not
conducive for painting on-site since once would have to stand where the surf is
breaking to really do it justice, or work from photos. The elliptical wave coming in from the right,
however, has squeezed through that arch and has now spread out, as we here
observe it, as it surges into a meeting
engagement with the smaller wave which has come around the island and
through the rocks and stacks, thus losing power and becoming smaller by the
time the two make contact. In military
terms a meeting engagement takes
place when two opposing forces make contact with one another, usually
inadvertently, when both forces have been on the march during a fluid situation
on the battlefield, and when front lines have yet to be established; the above
waves seem to be having their own perpetual version of such. Back to an imprimatura of Venetian Red, upon
which the compositional block-in was drawn with a brush in Ultramarine mixed
with M. Graham's Walnut Alkyd Medium so that it would set up tacky early,
hopefully by the time I worked in the sky and sea. It seems to have done so. The block-in is necessary especially in this
case when after a couple of hours both the light and tide changed quite
radically; fog banks also came and went later on, but the light and shadow
areas had been established in the block-in, and so the sketch was easily
completed. The pigments used were Yellow
Ochre, Venetian Red, Cerulean and Ultramarine Blues a minor amount of Viridian
in the sea, and a minor amount of Naples Yellow Genuine from Vasari ( I had
some on the palette already), which was used in the Ultramarine and Yellow
Ochre mixed green in the light parts of the foliage on the left-hand sea-stack. Cremnitz White was the main white, but for
the foam of the foreground waves I used a mixture of Maimeri Cararra Marble
putty mixed with Titanium White. This
Maimeri marble dust mixture adds texture to the colours it is mixed with and
also lightens the colours without giving them that chalky look that can happen
when a pigment is mixed only with white, especially with Titanium White; mixed
with the Titanium White as here, its usage was specifically for the texture
effects. Please NOTE! Delicate souls turn aside from the following. As an aside, I was visited
during the night by some varmint who left a calling card in the form of a berry
filled turd outside my truck ... I expect it was reminding me I'm visiting his
territory. It didn't seem large enough
for a bear; more coyote sized, but do coyotes also eat berries? Unfortunately my book on animal scats is not
with me. Evidentiary photos have been
taken for later possible identification of the likely suspect. Meanwhile I'm
keeping my bear spray close to hand, should the perpetrator attempt a
confrontation ... or a meeting engagement.
|
Available Paintings by Steven Thor Johanneson
|
![](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/steven-thor-johanneson/c1562-%e2%80%9cthe-meeting-engagement%e2%80%9d-at-the-arch-rock-harris-beach-brookings-/255175&media=https://s3.amazonaws.com/fineartimages.dailypaintworks.com/95de459c-e1ce-4107-8e3d-911f5cd21ffe.jpg&description=Daily Paintworks - "C1562 “The Meeting Engagement” (at the Arch Rock, Harris Beach, Brookings, Oregon Coast)" - Original Fine Art for Sale - © Steven Thor Johanneson)
Email to a Friend
