Underpainting and the Belfries

I went surfing for new Web sites about acrylic painting and came up with some good ideas. After all, this is Evolution a Painter not Miraculous Birth of a Painter. So, I’m still learning. One idea I found that I'll be trying in the future is to draw my composition in charcoal or graphite pencil and fix it with a spray fixative so that as I paint over it, the drawing will not smudge or contaminate the paint.

As you can see, I’ve now underpainted the structure with a dark gray and sketched in the bells. I’m not pleased with the way the roof has become a little distorted so I'll work to fix that. I’ve learned that certain parts of a composition can grow as you work on them and become grossly exaggerated. I once began painting a liter bottle of wine in a still life and ended up with something more akin to those boxes of wine one can buy at the grocery store.

Now, back to the present. In keeping with the idea of beginning to paint from the back and come forward, I’ve decided to begin to paint the inside of each belfry. I don’t know that belfry is exactly the right term in this instance since this is not an enclosed bell tower. But you can see the area I’m referring to in this close up.

Now, the danger I see for myself at this point is spending too much time on a part of the painting that will ultimately not be a focal point. As I’ve said before, I don’t necessarily want my paintings to have a photographic flavor but I want them to be realistic to a certain extent. So, I want to paint the stones inside each belfry (Answers.com says “the part of a tower or steeple where bells are hung”) first.

I’ve not painted too many stone structures such as stone walls or water wells, for instance. So, I’m a little shy about my ability to make a realistic looking stone surface inside the belfries. That’s what sent me on my recent surfing expedition mentioned at the beginning of this blog. However, while contemplating this, I realize that I shouldn’t agonize too much over these small, less important parts of the painting. I decide to get some paint in those areas but will wait until more of the painting has revealed itself before I try putting finishing touches to the stones in that area. As the painting develops, I'll adjust the tones and values in these areas to more closely fit the rest of the painting. For now, I just want to get the texture in there so I can paint the façade of the bell tower

This particular structure is so appealing to me because of what is revealed as the stucco falls away. Usually, an old stucco structure would be built of clay bricks which would show through as the stucco wore off. However, this bell tower reveals colorful, interestingly-shaped river rocks. As I look at the photographs I’ve got, I wonder what those rocks felt like in the hands of the men and women who built this bell tower. How old are those rocks that had been smoothed and shaped by decades or centuries of the water running over them in that river?

Let’s hope I’m up to the challenge of representing this beauty in my painting.