Thank you to Aaron Stair for helping me name this piece. His grandfather had a guitar like this and he passed it down to his grandson, Aaron's cousin Jason. Aaron said as he looks at this painting, he envisions his grandfather's guitar and his cousin's hands. He suggested the name "Generations".

I love the name for many reasons. I think of the musicians who have been innovative, fought the odds, made a style of music uniquely theirs and have passed this heritage onto another generation.

Since there are several musicians in the town I live in and since I REALLY like this red guitar I thought I might give it a whirl. I LOVE the color of the guitar. I also am very attracted to the reflections on it. There's energy and movement and oh, so much more to like here.

July 21, 2007

The reference photo. Read more about this guitar.

One layer of pencil. Colored pencil is a translucent medium. That means you can see the color of the underneath layers through the top layers. I'm using dark green underneath the red in the really dark places. It makes a very rich and vibrant color. See the green on the guitar? It will soon be turning red.

Several layers later but many more layers to go! The ugly dirty looking thing on the right side is my mylar slip sheet. I tried to work the whole piece but couldn't resist seeing how the guitar was going to do and if I could really make it shiny.

July 24, 2007

Tiny, little update. I am loving this so far. The colors are bright and vivid just as I wanted. This update has the colors very close to accurate. His right arm is foreshortened which can be difficult to do well but so far so good!

July 29, 2007

I'm still loving this reference so much. Even though I've looked and looked at it, it is still holding together for me.

I've decided to change the red shirt to green so the red, shiny guitar and the hands are front and center. Remember I used Dark Green in the dark areas of the red guitar for a rich, deep color? On the green shirt I am using Tuscan Red and Black Cherry which are both dark reds for the deepest colors on the shirt. Once the green is layered on top of the reds, you can't see any more red. Now the green is now darker, richer, fuller than it would have been if I had just done Dark Green alone. I am using Cloud Blue and White in the highlighted areas of the shirt. I'm looking for soft edges and hard edges in the photograph to get the right effect on the painting.

Even in the areas that look nearly finished, they are not. There is still much to do concerning values and color. I'll keep working in sections but will go back once it is work all over and adjust like crazy.

August 6, 2007

Final update for a week or so. It's all coming together so nicely for a change. I'm very much enjoying working on this. Just to show how I work, the first picture shows a small detail from the guitar. I use green for the shading in the red guitar. This photo show the green with a single layer of red of top of it. You can also see the gritty texture of the sanded paper

The second photo shows the same area of the guitar after several more layers and after I have used a brush to smooth out the pencil.

The third picture shows the stage I am now.