Today I'm working on a painting for the annual competition held by my art group, the theme is Summer's Day (or is it Summer Days?) Either way it took a lot of thinking out. Ultimately the painting fits into my recent "rebirth" series which mimic the rebirth of my life, love, career and panwonderful existence!
This picture is called The Glorious Birth Of Summer but it is also about the death of winter. The painting is essentially a winter scene that is thawing.
A study was important for this painting because it is too fantastical to easily stage fully. The study is shown. I usually paint one, half size. For this I use the original drawing, scan it into the computer, print onto A4 tracing paper of good weight and then trace onto a cheap surface. One tip is to print the drawing in mirror image and then use a scribe to rub the wet printer ink directly onto the surface.
As you can see the detail is minimal. This is primarily a test of colouration and several adjustments were made during painting. The final picture will be about 60x40cm.
