As I was in for...

...a painting marathon, I thought I would take a series of photos to show the progress. After mixing my colors and preparing a new batch of medium, a modest beginning in the upper left at two hours:


Here, the grey gradient of background clouds is filled in at four hours:


At six hours, minus the break for Sue Cebulka's fabulous left over lasagna and ensuing disco nap, the transition from dark to white of the sun burst is filled in:


Careful not to drag darks into the white, and realizing straight on shots are boring, the light colors of the sunburst are filled in by hour eight:


The biggest correction occurred when I completely changed the color of the sky to a pale blueish-grey gradient by hour ten:


Now while the paint from the background clouds was still wet, I began filling in the foreground clouds by hour twelve:


Finally, by hour fourteen and with minutes to spare before needing to be at a wedding, the rest of the upper foreground clouds fell into place and I was at a point where I could stop:


Hoping that the paint would stay wet, I was back at it the next day for another crazy long painting session. The lower foreground clouds were to be filled in, and a soft wavy horizon line needed to be created. I was at the gallery for 24 hours this time, but with talking to people on a busy Sunday, a longish power nap after closing the doors at ten, and shooting all the finished pieces for my digital archive (thanks Andy!), the painting time was about half of that. Believe it or not, I spent four hours solely painting in the horizon to a soft, evenly wavy line.


Although in the digital world you are not able to see the difference, as they say the proof is in the pudding, namely the quality of edges with clean and soft colors. This sky is done right! (Even by my standards...) But now the painting will have to wait for the water to be finished as I take a ten day vacation to visit long neglected friends and family. Will be back blogging soon!

- jb boyd

When Painting Goes Poorly...

...it tends to get real bad real fast. Today I was working on the oval and realized the colors I mixed yesterday were off.


Turns out I focused to much on a specific shade of yellow to brown, ignoring blue. While it is a great cloud color, the water reflects the clouds, and who wants brown water (besides the sewer company)? So after wiping the painting clean once, adjusting the color and painting the sky again, only to realize I was still way off, it got wiped clean a second time.


Frustrated, I will walk away tonight to start fresh tomorrow. And here is what I have to show for my hours of work, a pile of paint in the waste jar.


Nobody said life is easy...

-jb boyd

There is a painting...

...to be auctioned off to benefit a terrific organization, www.timbofund.org.




The auction will be on September 23rd at their yearly event, but we are accepting early bids until the 15th, and I will be your proxy bidder at the event. But as of now, no one has bid on it! So this is your chance to get one of my paintings for a song. It is os 10 (off 27th avenue) and measures just under 7 x 14" with a depth of 3".




If you would like to bid, with nearly 100% of the winner's proceeds to benefit returning veterans with traumatic brain injuries, the seeing eye, and individuals with pressing needs, please bid in the comment section below!

- jb boyd

Anoche...

...I was painting in the gallery. This is the other oval, measuring roughly 2x4'.


The top photo was before I began, below is when I finished up tonight. The big shape is really making the water move, and once again my awful camera is making it look good! The reality is that it is a first layer, and my eye is on how to make the clouds sing in the next layer.


The gallery is open till 10pm this week if you want to stop in and see the progress (and I'll open up later for anyone holding up coffee or vegetarian food in the window ;)...


- jb boyd

And The Winner Is...

...blue!


Thank you Curry for your wit, which always makes me smile. And thank you Maria and Melanie for your super thoughtful comments that helped me stick to my guns and ignore the Facebook fix.


So tonight is the big night! If you are in town, would love to see your smiling face. If not, the fun isn't over. Watch the webcam during the night hours to see me paint Wednesday through Sunday and check back on the blog to see the works in progress get done!


- jb boyd