Green Curtain is the painting currently on display in the Adobe-Patio Gallery in Mesilla, NM for the Border Artists show, Botanica. Here are a few in-progress shots of the work. I’ve never posted in-progress pics before and they weren’t really done at equally distant points in the process, but perhaps it will give you an idea of how it was painted.
This is the set up. I love to paint from life when I can even though I sometimes take liberties, like making the brown curtain green!
This shows you the initial lay in. I just wanted to get the main elements in and then work on the fruit before it got too ripe.
The next stage I laid in most of the curtain and roughed in the sky working from photos just to have a sense of it. I started the plants but decided I wanted to see more of a background landscape coming through.
So I roughed in the ground plane to give it some depth, and because it would be just be peeking through the final work, it’s not really too detailed.
After setting the work aside to do other projects for a bit, I was able to get back to it on a beautiful cloudy day. I worked on the clouds from my back porch before the weather turned hot. Then I brought the plants into the studio to finish off the foreground since they (and I) were starting to wilt outside. The black line you see just to the right of the curtain is actually the mahl stick I use to rest my hand on when painting. (Very professional photos here.)
And then here is the finished version
… and a detail shot.
I’d love to hear your feedback. Pop round to see the show if you get a chance. It’s up till 13 July.
Want to see more of these? I’m launching an eNewsletter soon, which is where I’ll be posting future in-progress pics of my paintings as well as announcements, sneak peaks at artwork before it gets shown, and special “insider” offers. So please sign up here or on the pop-up form.