Must be spring...

I've been working on the numerous tree reflections- our trees here are barely beginning to bud! I love Maimerblu's sap green- that's my standard "go to" green. I've used that with Windsor Lemon and some deep blues for depth and shade. And here and there I'm filling in more darks and middle value reflections. Payne's Grey is my standard dark chrome reflection color. It is slowly, slowly, coming together.
The tree shapes are fun to do. I don't need to be as exacting there as I do with the engine and body parts of the bike. Guess it's "back to work" time!

Starting to see green....

I've finally begun putting in some of the tree reflections. I think it's going to be a long time before I see green leaves, so it's nice to paint some! This is slow, tedious work with many hours put in just to get this far. I love when it begins to take shape- when I can see and feel the three dimensional shape coming to be. I'm always amazed at the motorcycle fans out there- that can look at one of my paintings and know precisely what kind of bike it is, the year, etc.
There are always people at the shows that have no idea what the image is- I've had some people think they're looking at a close up of a musical instrument or a helicopter! Then there are the little boys who can barely speak who chime in and know precisely what it is!

Slowly taking shape...

It's beginning to take shape....finally! All the precise detail work is slowly coming together into something recognizable. The darks, mostly layers of Payne's Grey, help to anchor the painting and begin to give shape to the chrome on the motorcycle. I previously laid in some light sky color, and next I want to begin putting in all the tree reflections. There will be a lot of green in the painting, as the photo was takin in our driveway and all the leafy trees will be reflected in the chrome. I always like to have some greenery in my chrome reflections. I think it helps balance the metallic nature of the chrome, and I simply like plants...trees, flowers, you name it! It's been a while since I've seen leaves, so I'm looking forward to painting some!!

Progress....

Hard to believe that the progress made here has taken hours worth of painting time! I'm going around the entire painting, laying color down and tending to stick with the lighter shades. I put some darks in, where the darks wouldn't bleed into any lighter colors to come. Putting some darks in does help to shape up the painting. I have the image upside down, I believe, from the previous photos. I do turn the painting around and paint from all sides. Sometimes artists are hesitant to do that, but I think it helps artists to paint what they see, not what they THINK they see. Very helpful when one is painting reflections!
Well, the weather is still cold and snowy, a perfect day to paint, so back to work!

Making progress...

Here's my slow, but steady progress on the motorcycle. It definitely looks like a series of unrelated shapes at this point! The color I've been using for the pavement is a Daniel Smith color- hematite violet. It's a nice, granular color that simulates the pavement quite well. At this point I'm putting down color and not worrying too much about value right now. That I will continue to adjust as more and more color gets laid down. Once some of the darkest darks get painted, the reflections will begin to pop out. Way to early for that yet! I certainly need to get going on this, as I need to get this completed before the outdoor show season begins- hard to think about that with the "feet" of snow everywhere! I guess with all the shoveling we had to do over the past few days, the artwork had to get put on hold! I'm looking forward to getting back to work! Artwork, that is, not shoveling!! Ha Ha!

Beginning to paint

I've begun the initial washes on the painting. I often start with the lighter colors, and begin just putting some color down. Because my initial drawing is so detailed, I can then lay down the sections of color in a sort of patchwork fashion.
I prefer to begin mostly with the lighter colors, because laying down a light wash right next to a dark one can cause the darker color to bleed into the lighter one. Once I have many sections of the sky colors, pavement reflections and such down, I will add some of the darks.
I have only just begun! I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I so enjoy having such a complex piece to work on. With the cold and snow lingering on, I enjoy spending hours in my studio. And this piece with certainly take many weeks to complete!