Stages to a finished work called Infinity. by Mario Donk

Please note: all images shown here are copyright Mario Donk. These images may not be copied or reproduced without written permission

My latest in progress. 91 cm by 61 cm oil on canvas. That’s not strictly true as the under painting is in egg tempera. Please ignore the flash hot spot in the middle as these are only previews. I normally start with a sketch on paper. But in this case I trashed the 2 drawings I had done so when it came to drawing it up it basically came out of my head. Which turns out is a nice way to work… more free.

So my approach is I seal the gessoed canvas lightly with watered down PVA. This stops the ground from sucking up all the oil and preserves the back of the canvas as otherwise if oil stained it will rot.

I work with charcoal and draw my idea, any errors are easy to remove, once happy I spray them with fixative. I then use egg tempera (see) to develop the design in tonal balance, fairly loose handling but still make sure that the shapes are correct as much of the under painting will show in the finished work, some as a tone visible through the oil paint and some areas that get no oil paint at all as the under painting in that spot says what I wanted so it stays untouched . So it is important not to go nuts and assume the under painting does not matter as your painting over it in oil.

If that was the case why do an under painting at all? The answer is you can not paint over the under painting in an attempt to hide it as it will still be visible in part unless you apply the heaviest paint, Which I normally don’t do. The advantage of the under painting is not only does it give you the chance to develop the tonal development of the work it also supplies tones that can not be mixed directly. All colors can be mixed but the result is dead and heavy where as the color that is the result of an undertone is more illusive and magical. I will be updating from time to time, possibly with less words but more images of the work in progress.

Adding more colour and body to the work, bringing out the shapes of the rocks (left) and putting some sky reflection on them, Keeping the whole thing loose at this point. Anyway back to the painting, call in again from time to time and see how its going. Can’t work on it full time at present, so it will probably take a while, but It may be interesting to see how it evolves.
Till next stage…

The lighting on the images changes, sorry, the finished work will be properly photographed when I get that far, note the colour is as strong as it is in image 2 but does not look that way as today is a overcast day . Bottom left hand is heightened with (a combination of Oil Titanium white and zinc oxide mixed with egg tempera) makes the white set much faster and reduces shine that I don’t need right now.
Close up of rocks, for no particular reason.Squinting while looking at it will give you a better idea of how it looks, it’s not meant to be in your face, its only here this size so you can see how loose I keep it at first.

Why all the blue on the rocks? No its not water. I put the blue to reflect the sky, from a distance it looks normal and you don’t even notice the blue.
You could continue painting but I put it away for a few days to let it dry and firm up as I don’t want to create mud and I want the under colours to set undisturbed when I put paint over some of it later.

Particularly in the sky, it was all in brown to start with, then heightened with white in the hot spot area (the sun being just above the top of the image). Totally let that dry, then painted thinly over it with body colour (but thin) and L and R painted with a lake colour so a transparent oil paint with the result that the brown underneath add to the depth of the colour.

Then later, when all was dry painted with thinned white and scumbled out so it lightened the light area which was light but needed more so it looks lighter but it does not look like pure white (but it was pure white) and the colours where never mixed as at times white can totally destroy a colour making it look sickly and anemic.

Same with brown, I almost never mix white into brown as the colour is terribly dead. White I use everywhere but you have to be very careful how you use it, most times its better to paint over dry white with the second colour, but transparency, or just use white straight. In small areas of colour, it can be mixed if your careful.

Some work done on the water, Slightly contradicted myself with the comment to be careful with white, but here it needs it, once dry will probably push some of it back with a very thin blue green or brown. A lot more to do to the water as well as define the boat that is now gone as well as the wake and need to extend the water beyond the pillars by an inch or more. Lots and lots to do.

Actually there is a lot but not as much as you may think. Believe it or not it’s almost all in place, what it needs now is a little refining of shapes, the middle and foreground of the track needs delineation and some surface detail and a few daft lines on the train, a little refining of the smoke but only in a few spots, the whole thing will suddenly jump and be there, That’s if it goes to plan.

It may seem contradictory, I say one thing and do another but the important part is it is based on a plan, from which I deviate as needs be but not too far, I can find my way back. But with no proper systematical plan painting this would become very difficult and probably not come out remotely as well.

So the plan is:
idea
roughs, basically a plan and a form of rehearsal
Drawing on canvas, most often from memory rather then use the rough
tempera under painting, in this case in browns, But could be any colour that suits the subject
over painting in oil BUT only where it needs it, LEAVE THE UNDER PAINTING ALONE
Actual procedure will nearly always deviate from the plan but that’s ok , it works.
And in practice your allowed to totally contradict yourself as all that maters is that in the end the painting is successful. So basically I have a mountain of rules that help point me in the right direction but I drop, change, throw out any rule that gets in the way. A paradox but it works for me.

Here is yet another stage, ignore the white triangle at bottom, that’s the sun hitting my canvas. And it is safe to say all the colors look wrong but they are right as you will see in the finished work, I simply can’t waste time for these progress shots.

So let the water dry , once dry went over parts of it with a green y color to knock the white in the water back as it was (see wip 5) too white. modified the rock shapes Left of bridge, removed some shapes that did not help, generally made the bridge darker and put paint every where to build some color strength.

But take my word for it , there are lots of places where the under painting is untouched and will stay untouched and other places where it is painted over but thinly so the undertone still has an effect on the end look. The waters a good example, it has bold paint on it but also a very great deal of under painting visible in the darker areas, making it look deeper in color, more see through the say the top left yellow part of the painting, also the sky has depth as a result of the undertone showing through.

You may not see it or believe me but without it the sky will just be heavy paint. Next is to put the boat back and do some work on the track and gravel and then possibly the train, and the steam and smoke and then probably many parts of the painting need to be adjusted but I hope not.
More later ….

Well, not a lot to say other then it is progressing. Now getting to the track part. That’s the disadvantage of showing a wip, the feeling that one has to show a good part or justify the stage. well no apologies here, just keep coming back and seeing what happens. I myself am as interested as the rest of you because it has a mind of its own, it may go in a direction I don’t like, in which case I have to fight to bring it back or it does something nice and I leave that part.

I try to be in control but the process is too complex to predict the outcome, that’s one of the things that keep it an interesting adventure.

Last entry was in July. I will put up a new photo of the painting in progress so far. No I have not been working on it this long, only very short periods and then something else needs my attention, so hope to get some more up tomorrow Nov 12 2010.
Well here is more of the painting.

It seems too bright here, particularly the gray in the foreground near the track, in the original it seems fine, anyway here is a close up of the train with all the wild and loose smoke and steam, it is not finished but I hope to retain the looseness.

I know this is a print site, but really, if you can afford it , there is no substitute for standing in front of and viewing the original painting, colour, depth, subtle variations in ambient light or viewing angle, its literally alive, for me life times of enjoyment to see the real thing.

Not to mention size, it is created at what ever size it is for a reason, an idea will present itself and you feel it needs to be a particular size so you paint it at that size. Buying a print allows one to buy at many sizes and your totally free to do so but if possible try to get a print close to the original size. Had the artist wanted to paint it bigger or smaller he would have, but it would be painted and treated differently, it would not look anything like an enlarged or reduced print.
More to come as the work is not yet finished.
It is finished.

For prints check out my RB site here.
The truth of this painting is buried under paint here so study the beginning work.