The oil painting, Oak Grove Bridge XXII, sold. This means it is time to paint another view of my favorite bridge. I looked through my photos and found an angle I’ve never tried before.
Is it lunch yet??
In and Out
Happy Birthday, Shirley, Connie and Hailey!!
What do I mean by “in and out”?
These paintingsare now IN my inventory.
This painting is now OUT of my inventory. (Does that make it outventory?)
WHAT?? Are you telling me I have to paint my favorite bridge again??
It will be Oak Grove Bridge XXIII. That means #23, although I have painted it more times than that – I didn’t begin numbering them right away, and then I lost track for awhile and may have used a number twice, so who really knows?
Square? Vertical? Horizontal? Small or medium? I have the large one hanging in my dining room, but am willing to sell it. Maybe.
More will be revealed in the fullness of time.
The Rest of the Stories
Remember Paul Harvey? We had to be quiet during lunch so my parents could listen to him every day at noon when we were home from school. He would tell a story sometimes with a surprise ending, and then he would say, “And now you know. . . (long, very long, very very long extended pause). . . the REST of the story.”
Remember the pencil drawing of the walnut grove? The recipient loved it.
Remember the very difficult and (for me) very large painting of the Oak Grove bridge?
It is finished. It now hangs in my dining room, because I am really happy with it. If you want to buy it, it can hang in your dining room.
Remember a painting I did of a trail in Mineral King? I improved on it a bit. Without showing you the old version, you might not recognize the improvements.
Remember the habañeros? The commissioned oil painting is finished. I still don’t know how to dispose of the peppers themselves. If I bury them in the garden, they might grow new ones. . . can’t be growing toxic waste in my yard that way. . . put them in the green waste bin? But they are red!
Finally, remember the “easy” painting of the bridge?
And now you know. . . .
(very long pause)
the REST of my stories.
Easy Bridge?
I thought this view of the Oak Grove bridge would be easy.
Fall down laughing. . .
I am enjoying the very tight detail, working from a greatly enlarged photo on my laptop screen. I am “drawing with my paintbrush”, a big no-no in the Art World. Ask me if I care. . .
I am looking for a certain result, and this is the only method I know to achieve it. Layer after layer, brushes getting smaller and smaller. I wonder if I will ever even want to try that thick all-in-one (alla prima) palette knife painting.
Prolly not.
The bridge itself looks empty, missing posts and rails. Some of the arches are a little catty-wompus. Just a little. . . but enough to cause me to take note and find a smaller brush.
Here I have added more details, like the oak tree on the left which covers that side of the railing a little. (If something doesn’t show well enough to paint, just plant a tree.) Also worked on the stuff above the three arches on the left. 
Is there any difference here? Hope so. These photos were taken about an hour apart, so there’d better be improvements! If not, I might have to fire myself.
The next time I show you this, it will be completed and scanned.
There You Go Again . . .
Happy Birthday, Ann!!
Yeppers, here I go again on a painting of the Oak Grove Bridge.
First, the edges of the Big One. I always paint the edges because I think paintings look best without frames. (This photo is before the edge is painted. Duh.) I also added a teensy bit of age spots to the bridge itself, thanks to a very good suggestion from a friend at the Redbud Festival.
Okay, moving along to Oak Grove Bridge #22, this time 11×14″ instead of 24×30″. First, I drew it in pencil. Then I began mapping out the dark areas.
Next, I walked back to the house for something. . . such pretty light.
I was surprised by how much easier it is to paint from this angle. It is because there aren’t as many visible layers and levels of boulders and rocks that seem to echo and mimic one another.
The shadow beneath the bridge is what makes this particular view come alive. While painting the details, I look at an enlarged version of the photo on my laptop. It helps immensely to see what I am painting. Again, duh.
Looks as if 2 more layers will do the trick, with most of the attention focused on the bridge itself.
Speaking of Painting
Who was speaking of painting?
I was, in yesterday’s post, when I told you about the man who said, “You draw better than you paint.”
Indeed, the paintings begin very very roughly, thin paint, general shapes, although I drew the bridge first in pencil, so it isn’t as rough as it sometimes is when I begin.
I didn’t take many intermediate photos of the 10×10″ bridge. After a few layers, I pulled out the 24×30″ painting, dusted it off and dove back in.
Getting there on the 10×10″, wondering how much to perfect things. 
It took a long time to figure out how to interpret the cliffs and the shrubs. By the time I was finished for the day, the light for photography was poor. The bridge itself needs more refining, especially those miniature spaces around the railing. 
As always, I have two main thoughts about my beloved Oak Grove Bridge:
- A bridge picture is the perfect blend of architecture and landscape.
- This is sort of too hard for me, in spite of it being about the 26th time I’ve painted it. I may not live long enough to paint as well as I draw.
Oil Painting Progress Report
Last week on a very good painting day, I scanned and varnished 5 finished paintings, finished 4 with their details, and signed 3 that were almost dry. That leaves 7 unfinished.
Have a look at the 5 finished paintings:
Once again, I forgot how hard the Oak Grove bridge is to paint. Will it ever get any easier? Am I a case of arrested development?
Don’t answer that, please.
Below: The top two and bottom one are drying, the snow scene is inching forward (feels giant at 11×14″ after all the 6×6 oil paintings), the lanterns are low priority (just doing it for the purposes of learning–can you tell that the 4 lanterns on the left are further along than the 3 on the right?). Carla’s Sunflower (on Samson’s window shelf) has been finished since I took this photo.
Finished Oil Paintings
Did you think I had forgotten my promise to show you recently finished oil paintings?
Nope.
First, the commissioned piece. It isn’t totally finished, but I never show you the sides of the canvas anyway.
It is Oak Grove Bridge XX, which means #20, but is probably the 25th time I’ve painted it because sometimes my record keeping is not so good.
Now, the P Fruits:
And a Sequoia Gigantea, with the same information as above, except it is a Giant Sequoia tree.
Whole Lotta Oak Grove Bridges
Whole lotta bridges going on around here. All the Oak Grove Bridge, of course. 2 paintings, a calendar, 2 photos.
Samson was busy with other things (thank you, GE for babysitting) so I tackled the bridge again. This time I started over, working from back to front and top to bottom. This layering and layering and layering is called “glazing” in Artspeak.
The lower right corner is a mess. Real life is very messy. Most scenery is messed up with sticks, dried stuff, dead branches. . . and we don’t notice because we look past it to the good parts.
You can see the lower right edge of the photo is a mess, a tangled mess.
It isn’t finished here because I just flat don’t know what to do.
So, for now I’ll stop and just think about all the versions and how I’ve handled this corner in previous renditions.
Because I’m feeling more confident about the 11×14 commissioned oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge, I decided to pull out the 24×30″ version from last year. I tackled it the same way – starting over in the farthest places, working forward.
Just like with murals, the larger, the easier.
Weird.
Particularly Challenging Challenge
Oil painting is a real challenge at times. Getting the colors right in addition to the darks, lights, textures, shapes and proportions, along with seeing what is really there instead of what I think might be there plus adding and subtracting whatever is necessary to enhance the scene . . . it is just hard.
Then along comes a new challenge. This oil painting commission of the Oak Grove Bridge may take longer than any other previous oil painting. Let the photos suffice, although none were taken while claws and teeth were attached to my painting (or photographing) hand. In all the wrestling, a button got pushed on the camera that made the colors more vivid than normal. I’m surprised nothing got broken or accidentally painted or dropped.
While this Bengal bitey-boy-beast, AKA Samson, took a rest, I was able to work on the rocks beneath the bridge a bit, and also located the posts on the bridge itself. The customers didn’t give me a deadline, and they say, “No hurry” each time I see them.
Good thing.