Thursday, September 15, 2011

Cowboy Boots

Diane Mannion, COWBOY BOOTS, 10x8" oil
    
Step-Pop passed away this summer in San Antonio, Texas and my husband inherited his boots.  Andrew Wyeth's SEA BOOTS and TRODEN WEED paintings, (also had to do a western theme painting for the art center) was the motivation and inspiration for COWBOY BOOTS.  I didn't want the painting to be too somber, Step-Pop was always full of energy and good humor.  A happy man that led a brave and adventurous life.
Cowboy Boots, value study/underpainting
  Egads!!! What was I thinking using quinacridone magenta for a value study?   Made four puddles of paint from dark to white and used four brushes.
      Sometimes, when painting a landscape I use magenta as an underpainting.   It shows through the green trees and everything else... little spots of magenta accents unify and give energy to the final painting.  But this value study got out of hand.  Used thicker paint with a lot of white.  To use this as an underpainting, I either have to wait for it to dry (no patience) or blot most of it off.  I've read that old telephone book pages work great for this.  
   Blotting with phone book pages worked great.  Was able to finish the painting right away.
      This monochromatic value study was my entry for the weekly challenge by Liz Wiltzen at Daily Paintworks.

2 comments:

Sonya Johnson said...

Very cool twist on a still life, Diane! I'm fascinated by that vivid underpainting (must try that sometime), and I love the story behind the boots :).

Paul Baldassini said...

Diane --

The underpainting is spectacular! (So is the final work, of course). I'm convinced the Quin Magenta is the PERFECT underpainting color, certainly for landscapes. I use it all the time for my underpaintings. You can see the underpaintings in my works in-progress on my blog at www.baldassinifineart.blogspot.com.

Great work!

Paul Baldassini