If you've been following the progress of this project before today, you would have noticed that I made a major change in the mural. Eighty feet of this mural (Squaw Peak and Rock Canyon) received a color change. I've actually been waiting for this time of year when the red maple and scrub oak on the Wasatch mountains all over northern and central Utah look like they are on fire. This year in particular, the reds of autumn are very rich and intense. So rich in fact that it almost seems surreal.
One of the challenges of creating a landscape mural sketch prior to the execution of the mural, is capturing a natural atmospheric quality. Plein air painting helps a lot, but when the sketch is created in the winter or spring and the subject is an autumn scene, it is very difficult to nail the seasonal colors accurately. I'm all about atmospheric color accuracy as much as is possible, especially on a project this size. It's like AIG, "to big to fail". I've been waiting and hoping for the mountain fall colors to come out and planned to take advantage of them as soon as I could, but until this moment, all I could do was make the best judgement I could. Fortunately, it only took about a day and a half to make the change. The rest of the mural is in pretty good shape, except a few minor areas to adjust. This I will have accomplished by Friday if all goes well. After Friday, we will be working on the final phase of the mural and that is the finishing details. We're still shooting for the end of November to have this project done.
Novatek South Addition Mural
This mural measures 22 feet high by 200 feet long
FINISHED MURAL WITH NEW FAUX MARBLE FLOOR
Here is a section of the mural finished with the new floor.
REFLECTIONS
more floor, less mural
FINISHED FIRST SECTION
The mural is now finished. This is the first section.
FINISHED SECOND SECTION
All the highlights and shadows are now finished on the snow and all over the rest of the mural.
FINAL THIRD SECTION
We tried to capture the twilight time of day. I think we were successful.
FINISHED FOURTH SECTION
Even the tops of the trees indicate the last few moments early evening light.
FINISHED FIFTH SECTION
I like the way the shadow and light plays on the rocky Timpanogos slopes.
FINISHED SIXTH SECTION
Provo Canyon.
FINISHED SEVENTH SECTION
I love the way the shadows and light bring out the rock forms on Cascade Peak.
ELK CLOSE UP
I'm not really a wildlife painter, yet I feel pretty good about how this bull elk turned out.
EIGHTH SECTION
Squaw Peak (the one with the red scrub oak trees on it's slopes) is mosly in shadow, but with a sliver of light at the top.
FINISHED NINTH SECTION
The middle section of Squaw Peak.
SQUAW PEAK
THis looks so real, it's like you can walk right through it! Pick any door.
LAST SECTION
This shows Rock Canyon during the last few moments of evening light.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
ABOUT HALF WAY THERE!
Well, here we are just past the halfway point. It is really coming together now. All that preliminary stuff was necessary to establish a foundation of design, basic working color patterns and middle values. Some people ask me why I don't just use a paint-by-number method. For the very reason that I don't want it to look mechanical or commercial. Others say, "Why not just start from one end, finish the area from top to bottom in full detail then move to the next area?" The problem with that method is it would often look like some areas were cut out of another mural and pasted in the one your working on. For me the very best method is to establish basic preliminary steps, one at a time, covering the entire picture plane before moving to the next step. I like working on the whole surface each painting session, applying color and value where needed. This helps me not overwork an area. LESS IS MORE. My art instructor, Sergei Bongart, and former Ukrainian native coined the phrase, "More important is what you leave out than what you put in". This has always been my mantra.
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