![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/egallery\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Cambria-Selecting.jpg\" "\\"Cambria-Selecting\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nDeciding on the approach<\/h6>\n
That’s\u00a0daughter\u00a0Cambria, the new mother (now of three) two weeks after giving birth, at a rare moment of sitting long enough to make some decisions. The bits of color about to get on her bathrobe are freshly made swatches that match colors in her kitchen. (Permission to share bathrobe pictures not received :-)<\/p>\n
Her idea was to do something that would reflect their Northwest area. After deciding on a six-ft. tall piece of Mount Ranier<\/a> for their stairwell, she opted for tulip fields for the kitchen. The pencil sketch shows two graphic options; the tiny oil paintings, color options. She chose the one with white flowers.<\/p>\n The house has been almost a year in remodeling with just a few things to finish up. Here’s the nitch intended for a painting. It was a pretty big space for a fairly narrow passage. That’s why I suggested a polyptych, to break it up a bit. The tape was to give us an idea of final placement.<\/p>\n A polyptych <\/em>is one painting on multiple panels. While I’ve made a number of triptychs<\/em> (one painting on three panels), this was my first\u00a0quadiptych<\/em> (another term that works). I set up in a spare room, with an easel roughly constructed of scrap 2x4s and c-clamps, my reference sketches on the wall, and a picture of a bloom on a bag of tulip bulbs.<\/p>\n Note also the one-inch strips of wood placed between each of the canvases. It’s because the space itself is part of the composition. The edges of the canvas would eventually be painted as well for visual continuity. Note also that, while the chosen option was for white tulips, I started with red just so I could see them.<\/p>\n The idea was to capture the look of the expansive tulip fields that glorify the landscape in certain areas at certain times of year. A few in the foreground would indicate the mass in the background, with a row of red ones just before the distant hills . . . just for\u00a0pizazz.<\/p>\n The way I paint (and teach) is to create a painting in stages. That is, as much as possible I’m working at the same degree of detail (or non-detail) over the whole painting. Conceivably the painting could be considered finished at any stage. The challenge then is to stop before it’s overworked.<\/p>\n Remember, they were to be white tulips. As it happened, using red first really didn’t serve me. Oil paint is slow in drying and as I applied the white it would turn pink. But with a bit of scraping and applying a thick layers of paint, it began to conform to what I was after.<\/p>\n Here we are about mid-week. The tulip painting was happening between periods of helping son-in-law Shon with the eve-painting project outside. Oh well, it’s all painting. Note the idea here of including a swath of yellow tulips. It could have worked, but they didn’t last.<\/p>\n Here it is, finished, with just enough detail and not too much. I hadn’t painted the edges yet. All the red is gone. Even the hint of distant red tulips went to orange, a decision that was made when provisionally placed in the kitchen to check colors. Each of these panels is 20×24 and could conceivably be a complete painting in itself.<\/p>\n By the time we left at the end of the week the paint was far to wet to touch. But they’ve since hung it and sent this picture. Happily Cambria loves it. It brings great focus to the area, and beauty. I’m grateful.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThe thumbnails<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe intended space<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nMy provisional studio<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nGetting the initial shapes up<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe essence is established<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe painting at mid-stage<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe white begins<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNearing final stage<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe final painting, before hanging<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCambria’s Tulips, polyptych, oil on canvas, 41×49<\/h6>\n