Ready to ride!

Wow....is it really done? Artists always have a hard time knowing when to stop. There is no magic genie that comes out and tells you..."yes, it's done, now stop!" What I do now is to let it "mellow" for a while- which for me means to set it aside in my studio and just look at it, for a while, every now and then. I've caught so many mistakes that way! Sometimes just catching it out of the corner of my eye, and then a light bulb moment comes and you just know why a section of your painting has proved troublesome. Sometimes the value needs adjustment, sometimes those troublesome areas need to be shadowed off to make them less prominent. This painting will mellow for a while, and any adjustments I make will be minor ones. When I started this painting, it was freezing out and there was a lot of snow on the ground. Now, the trees are leafing out and the daffodils, hyacinths, and my blue poppies are blooming. It's been a looooong ride!!
Next project? I have no idea right now. And it's fun. I love to browse through my reference material to see what inspires....

Nearing the end!

The finish line is in sight! Now comes more and more fine detail work, all the while adjusting values now that more areas are completed. With Payne's Gray drying 40% lighter than when it's wet, it requires more layering to get just the right value level. This is fun for me- not all artists enjoy such labor intensive detail work, but I certainly do. I'm especially enjoying painting the tree reflections right now-nice to see some green! Our flowers are beginning to bloom, and we've had great weather this week, so the green leaves are coming. With the better weather, it's going to take a lot of discipline to work as hard as I need to to get this painting completed! Allentown is the second weekend in June, so that deadline sure helps. I'm hoping for the same fabulous weather we had last year...fingers crossed!

Getting deeper...

I'm beginning to see some actual progress here! I've put in more tree reflections, and the addition of more dark colors gives the chrome more punch. Even with a tight drawing like this one, I have a lot of freedom with colors and such. This motorcycle has fabulous airbrush art- from the Renaissance Festival where we got the bike, and the airbrush art ads some nice, unexpected colors to the painting. This type of painting is a lot of fun for me. It does take FOREVER, but I enjoy spending time in my studio so much, and a painting of this type requires just that.

It's all in the details....

Details, details! The image is beginning to take shape. The addition of more and more darks really ramps up the chrome effects. I always find it funny in these paintings to find myself in them! My reflection is in the center of the light itself, in the small curved center. And I'll find other areas in the painting where I spot myself, either my hair color, my clothing, etc.
I'm looking to get this painting completed in the next several weeks...hopefully!