Painting winter

It’s just a few days past the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere. Here in Epekwitk/Prince Edward Island, this past week has also been March Break. I’ve had no travel plans, but nostalgia for the anticipation of Going Somewhere has been on my mind – and on my easel.

Have a behind-the-scenes look at what is now my most recent finished painting. I am not yet adding it to my website portfolio and marking it as publicly available for sale, because I haven’t done a proper photo shoot with it since I added the final little changes:

See, I thought it was all done when I took these pictures, but then I realized I hadn’t yet signed my name on it. Then, while I had the paint on the brush for my signature, I couldn’t resist a few other details…. 

I’m getting better at declaring a painting “done,” but it’s something I struggle with at times: I could work on any given painting forever, constantly tweaking and refining it, day after day. I have to catch myself, and remember that the goal is not to reproduce everything as photographically accurately as possible. The purpose is to capture the feeling of being there, and the feeling of immersion in that moment and the sense of wonder that becomes inspiration to share the experience.

Because I want to show you my art as accurately as possible, I still need to take new photos since I changed the painting. Then I’ll make edits to the image files, for colour correction. Every screen display varies, but I aim to give you an honest representation of how it looks in person, before I offer it for sale.

Actually, I have not often remembered to take in-progress photos of my paintings – something else I want to try to get better at, to show and tell more of my process with you.

I did take a pic at a very early stage of this particular painting: after I had transferred my sketch onto the canvas, and I had done a quick underpainting to “use up” paints left over on my palette from another project:

This underpainting started with a wash of Transparent Burnt Sienna, chosen because it was *not* a colour that appeared in the scene, for two reasons: 

• anywhere it showed through in its undiluted orangeness\ was a reminder to me that I had not yet finished that section with the correct colours, 
• but also, any diluted hints of rust that showed through the thin coats of white and blues would bring a sense of warmth to a scene that I worried might otherwise feel too cold.

Then I established the main lights and shadows, using white and ultramarine blue. No worrying about getting the right hue yet, just identifying the major landmarks to guide me through the next stages. 

My painting technique involves building up many thin layers of semi-translucent paint. As I continued, everything that could be seen in this first progress photo was completely covered over many more times – but I stayed aware of the energy that the first layer had captured, and the momentum it gave me. 

I can still feel it, can you?

– Rebeka

PS. This original painting will be for sale for $200. Send me an email to discuss adding it to your own collection/home/wall, or if you’d like to reserve it pending final reveal.