Tomatoes and tornados

Back to the tomatoes and the Scottish dirk.

Added the tomatoes this morning. After lunch going back to place the leaves.

Listening to The Forgery of Venus as I paint. I'm thinking about the protagonist's yearning to work in an time of faith and meaning, a pre-ironic age and about the marriage of technique and skill with inspiration and creativity in the service of portraiture. Good times.

Yesterday I worked on the Tornado (Aftermath)

Added pine needles and general yard trash. Worked on the brick lattice, the garage wall, and added paint to both figures. The faces don't read well on this photo, but I'm working carefully there. At the end of the day I cleaned my brushes and hated it, but after dinner, it didn't look too bad. 'Just keep swimming,' as the little fish says in Finding Nemo, 'just keep swimming.'

Tornado (Aftermath)

While Thirsty dries I'm back to its meteorological opposite, Tornado (Aftermath).


Worked on the wall to the right, the rhododendron shrub in the foreground, a terracotta sun sculpture on the wall, and gleefully added trash to the ground. Cleaned up my profile a little. This took all morning and I had to look at a photo of the last session to see any progress. This painting absorbs hours of work like sand sucks water. I've got three weeks and change to have this, Thirsty and one of the tomatoes done in time for the OCAF show. I may have to skip a few naps.

Storm debris and strands of hair.

Worked on Tornado yesterday while Gripland was drying. Re-did the darks, and added lots of debris, especially on the slate path. Pretty soon it will be time to tackle the pine needles, and they are legion.

Also worked on the self portrait. Lots of cussing. Some hair pulling out over painting individual strands of hair. Not unlike painting pine needles, now that I think about it.
The rose patches on the back of the coat, the paint brush, and the texture on the edge of the mirror frame went well.

Adding figures, while chanting 'NOT a portrait NOT a portrait NOT a portrait'

I spent the afternoon laying in the two figures and adding some paint to the brick lattice. Somewhat daunted by the amount of hours I'm going to have to put in to get this where it needs to be.
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I had my OMG moment of realizing how much work it's going to take to cover this much canvas with leaves, pine needles, and bricks.
I got past it with the idea that sometimes all you need is boldness and bigger brushes.

Tornado Aftermath

Here's the start of Tornado Aftermath.
Yesterday I painted in the main tree trunks and broken limbs, and parts of the garage, brick lattice and the house wall. The tree crashed into the roof over our bedroom during a tornado. It's a good visual metaphor for the tornado that was Emily as a teenager, roaring through the home.

Today I worked on the shapes indicating sky, branches, and pine needles. Below; adding fallen limbs, greens that will become the pine needles, the walkway to the house and the coiled water hose that hangs on the side of the house. Worked on the raw ends of wood here and there and the dark in between the brick lattice.Yet to come are the figures of Emily and I on the right - she's standing next to me and holding an apple, looking at the camera with this pleased little smirk.

Emily dropped by, and said that, as usual, this is her favorite stage of my work. She loves it semi-painted, with part of the grid and drawing visible.