Sketch for New Painting

The sketch for the new landscape painting was completed today.  Now it’s ready for transferring on to the canvas; don’t get too excited!  That can take a while especially since I have to find the right size books to put under the canvas to support it while I press down on the sketch from above.  I definitely don’t want to get this far and puncture the canvas or break a wooden brace!

Here is the sketch.  It may be a bit hard to see, but if you compare it to the photograph (which I’ll post again) you will be able to tell how I stretched the scene to work on the canvas.  Note that I did not put in the clouds; they were not necessary.  The trees are merely squiggles serving as place holders, but important shapes like the mountains are specific.  Those are known quantities and therefore must be correct.  The big egg shape on the mountain on the left indicates where the rocky outcropping will be – more or less.  You may also be able to see my notes (my mutterings – “Okay, lump head, this is the lake not a field!  And this is a field not a stand of trees so pay attention.”)

 

 

Two things will be altered from the sketch to the canvas.  First, the entire sketch will be moved up one inch.  That will give more space between the bottom of the canvas and the pond, and conversely, less at the top edge – creates more balance that way.  Second, I drew that house three times, and it is still too big.  In the photograph one can hardly see it among the trees.   The entire purpose for leaving it in the painting is to serve as a size reference; the scene is huge!  The first time I drew the house, I was focused on understanding the architecture.  Note the unusual roof line, the difference in window sizes, and the shallow draft of the porch roof.  Well, once I understood all of that, I should have been able to get the house’s relative size correct, but it still needs attention.

Everything else seems to be all right, but I’m sure that things will continue to crop up.  But not the silo.