I say, nobody reads blogs!
So, let’s let the contest begin!
I have one of those careers, I wouldn't wish on a friend. Unfortunately most people have no idea the road it takes to get to the point you can actually call yourself a real artist. The first ten to fifteen years after saying that I wanted to pursue an artistic live style, were wrought with poverty and desperation. I lived for five years in Germany, actually at that time it would have been West Germany. There I tried my hand at first approaching Galleries and was met by constant rejection. The feel of front door being slammed in my face was all too familiar. So, please don't let anyone tell you its "the life". Realistically it's an up hill battle all the way, and the sick part is, if you check out, or stop painting for a bit, you slide right back down again.
Now with that said, what I can do and what might be interesting for the viewer is if I could give a progress report on the paintings I am working on each day.
Let's start the blog with a 30x40 painting I am working on, of some boats up in
I started out with just a quick block in to figure out the basic composition. Using a medium sized brush, I will draw with a few lines the subject matter. There is really no point in getting too detailed with the drawing part of it, since it will be covered over with washes of thin paint. I tend to work more with shapes and masses than line drawings. You may have noticed that I like to cover the white canvas with an orange turpentine wash, that makes it easier to judge values when its not glaring white back at you.
It’s still a little crude, but "c'est le vie"
Then I worked on trying to define some of the boats, and filling in the rest of the canvas with paint. Once again the lines are being obliterated by the fields of color I am laying down. I like to have it all covered over in the first session, thereby thinking out all my composition problems. The rest of the painting now I can relax on now, since my composition is all figured out.
Okay, I understand most people will be looking at this and saying “It’s still just a bunch of unfinished blobs of paint?”……what’s more important for me, is that I know how it will look in the end.
Richard Boyer
