Streams Edge

I  thought of this composition early this spring. I fiddled with if for quite some time. The composition was using square canvas  instead of the rectangle . I used some other  compositional ideas . I did 5 or 6 compositional sketches.  First step was build the river bottom .  I sketched it out just the major rocks.  I was going to try a style of painting I never tried before .

 Above is stage 2 I outlined all rocks below a close up.

 

I used a deep blue black for the out line it will be the shadows between the rocks. You can see my expected water line on the big rock  on the left.

The next step was to contour all the rocks in  monochrome I used paynes gray /white to do this step. This was  very tedious  but the result works well.

Next I glazed the various  colors over the monochrome  under painting . The the fish was added light and shadows then water and bugs then enhanced the shadows and lights . Some rocks and areas took several glazes to get the quality I was looking for.

This is the completed  painting . It is acrylic on a 20 x 20 gallery wrapped canvas the painting  goes down the sides. This was finished  August 2013  .

 This success and newly learned skills presents a dilemma for me .   Which direction do I go . The direct way so many painters paint mix colors paint blend refine be done with it. Or this planned , slowly developed with multiple  layers of glazes. I think I will have to determine  that on what I am painting.