The Water Falls

The Water Falls is an example of my work that is partly conceptual with references of nature. My main concern was to create  some sense of movement. I did not want to limit that movement to just the rush and thrashing of the water but a movement that drifted with the mist into the atmosphere of the background. The running water posed a problem to paint in the fact that it just doesn't stay still long enough. I also tried to take a few photographs to see if that would solve the problem which only made for poor results. All of the photos I took made for a very still and dead feeling. Using my imagination I tried to make a base of non-repetitive natural shapes to run through the whole painting. All of these shapes more or less going into the same direction over the edge of the cascade. It was also important for me to make the reflective parts of the water interesting. I knew I needed to have these little mirrors in the water to be influenced by there surroundings. With this in mind and the idea that as thing recede they may also become cooler ( lower in chroma ) came to mind. To solve that problem I was able to place a cooler green color in the back reflected from the background trees. I then placed a higher chroma color in the foreground to catch the eye and hopefully pop it forward. I am aware now in writing this that there are many schools of thought in making objects advance and recede by attention to edge, tone ect. At last I am not stating that there are better ways to paint. I am just describing my approach to this particular painting.

The Water Falls pre-sketch in pencil

Here is a preliminary sketch to get my bearings on the composition and tonal relationships. This drawing was made three times smaller then the finished painting. Working in this manner I am able to get an idea of how things are working together. At this stage I will know to improve on the idea or scrap it completely.

The Water Falls oil sketch

The oil sketch or poster study works similarly to the pencil drawing. Because I was able to establish in a general way the composition and tones in the previous stage I am now able to embellish them more in color. Again this is a small painting, the same size as the preliminary drawing. For me this cuts out a lot of guess work in the finished painting. All of my experiments can be done here without fear. These studies are best done from life then taken back to the studio for referencing throughout the entire painting process.

The Water Falls finished painting

Lastly we have the finished product. Here you can see minor changes in both color and tones from the oil sketch. In the oil sketch I left the upper right hand corner lighter in tone. As the painting progressed on a larger scale my eyes seemed to exit the corner every time I looked at it. To remedy this I decided to apply a sort of vignette to the corners to hold one's eyes in the painting a bit longer. There is much more a level of finish and detail added to the finished painting. Also in the lighter foreground area I added much impasto to emphasize the frothiness of the crashing water. I imagine with a coat of varnish and the gallery lights it will sparkle like a gem furthering the sense of movement.