Working on the Greenbottom Project

(Note: Sunday, February 26, 2012)

Watched the academy awards tonight. Did my exercises, all 30 minutes of them. Washed a load of towels and folded did not spindle or mutilate laundry.

Then got out the paint and brushes. Worked for 2 hours trying to get the shades and feelings right on both the detail painting of the water lotus and the larger overview of Greenbottom.

A bit frustrating, but over all, I think it is starting to straighten up.

Speaking of straightening up, I have to adjust my lines of lotus to straighten them up. Water is flat, and they float on the top, At least the bottom edges of each group needs to be fairly level.

Then I will start on bringing on the background, the higher ground in this case. The small rise with the live trees on it, and then add a couple of drowned trees to the mid ground among the lotus plants. I have thought about adding a few birds in the sky, but all in all it sounds a bit hokey.

One of the tools I am loving is a scrapper I got at my fall workshop. Makes correcting mistakes so much easier. No more wiping with paper towels, now the paint lifts off pretty cleanly. It does help that in glazing the paint on the previous layer is fairly well set up. Still, it is nice to be able to correct so quickly and cleanly.

It is so exciting to be making progress on this. The first pen and ink drawing is coming along. Not anywhere finished, but I think shaping up into something that might work.