Saturday, March 27, 2010

CHAINS

Here finally is the completed painting. After finishing the chains, I mostly worked on the background adding in wood grain and the rough saw cut marks to the boards. A few selective washes went on here and there along with nail heads at the bottom of the boards. I darkened the chain's shadow then added a few slightly cooler washes to the main post and support. These were then finished with more wood grain and saw marks. Some time was spent carefully detailing the right side of the post where it had received some damage and I finished off with a few smaller details mostly around the chains. Since this photo has been taken, I've darkened the lighter chains slightly with washes of Burnt Sienna along with the hook at the top. I may do a little more to it but for now, I'm happy with how it has turned out especially after struggling with the work as I did. The finished painting is subtly changed from the study, the proportions are slightly different and I kept the background slightly warmer in tone than the post. Conversely the shadows of the background are cooler while those at the top of the post and the hook are slightly warmer. I like the way the smaller hooks hang against the dark at the bottom echoing the hook at the top. These smaller features were carefully worked out in advance along with the rest of the composition and the results are quite pleasing to me. 'Chains' is 22" X 15".

4 comments:

Santa Biología said...

It is a precious, a fantastic image.
It´s one of the best painting than I have seen, really. The wood is very real, like the shade.

Enhorabuena by the blog, I like it!

Jeremy Pearse said...

Hi Santa,
Thanks so very much for the comments and is very high praise indeed. I'm honored!
Sometimes it is these smaller more intimate paintings that I like doing the most as they can often say more about what I see and feel, going beyond the subject matter into the abstract.

Anonymous said...

I love the effect of light and shadow that you got in this painting. The angle of the sun illuminating the chains and the way that the shadows play across the sunlit beams are fascinating!

Ratty

Jeremy Pearse said...

Thanks Ratty! You hit on the main points that I was trying to bring into the painting - as you said namely the sunlight and how its effect plays across the subject (great name by the way!).