Tuesday, January 18, 2022

The Road Goes on Forever - process shots (and a song!)


The Road Goes On Forever, 8 x 10, oil on panel
SOLD

Today's painting title comes from a song of the same name by Texas singer-songwriter, Robert Earl Keen. It's fun to be in a concert when he sings the chorus, "the road goes on forever and the party never ends!", because EVERYONE joyfully jumps in. It's contagious!! Robert Earl announced his retirement last week... but I have to say, it's for all the right reasons. He wants to go out while he still LOVES what he is doing (not because he is sick or tired or bored). Good for him!! 

This painting is a demo from my last workshop. Throughout the painting session we all kept singing that song's refrain (well, some did, and you Texans know who you are), so I had to use it for the title. An homage.

And below... process shots... the road goes on forever... 

1) Sketched outlines of big shapes for placement, size and composition.


2) Blocked in masses of value, to indicate the planes of the landscape:
Upright plane, distant upright plane (or slant), ground plane, and sky plane.

3) Massed in best average value of greens for the uprights.
Distant uprights are cooler and more muted than foreground uprights.

4) Massed in ground plane observing color changes within the overall value.

5) Added sky plane, and included a variety of temperatures at the horizon. 
Broke up masses in each plane with highlights and lowlights. 

... and the party never ends!!! 
Thank you, Robert Earl Keen!

4 comments:

5minutesfromcool said...

Thank you for sharing your art. Truly amazing,but did you have to bring up that song? Ten o’clock and I can’t get pit out of my head. Not Texan but I know it.

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Another lovely painting. I bet it was fun to hear everyone singing while painting!

Laurel Daniel said...

Thank you, 5Minutes! I sang it all day myself! It's contagious AND catchy!!! :)

Laurel Daniel said...

Thank you Penny! So fun to have that slap happy singing... you know how it gets at the end of a long painting day! ;)