Finishing Touches

Lots of finishing touches here. Worked on the main figures including Chris's nose. Clicking on the photo should bring up a larger view.

The painting is dry to the touch at this point and needs to have varnish applied. Here is a photo of how the edges are painted black (and a closer look at the filled in signature.)

Nose Job

Chris complained that it looked like he had no nose in the painting. I had to agree it needed work, so I dove back in to work on his helmet and face. This one seems a little large.

How's this??

Here is my more serious reworking including some changes to the helmet and windscreen. I still may need to go in for more surgery.

I worked on other details and the pavement. I also, gasp, signed it (I hope I didn't do that too soon.)

Flags, Knees, Faces, and Photogs

I decided to risk adding some detail over the crowd. I say "risk" because I don't want to draw your eye to the edge of the painting ....and then out. However, I think they look nice and give me the feeling of being in Solvang. 

I also liked that the crowd has knees, cameras, and a few heads actually, sticking through the orange fencing. I added a few of these near the foreground making the chute feel a little longer.

The details on Chris Horner were cleaned up a little. I took another pass over his helmet.

Since my last posting, I worked on Chris and Jono's heads. I cleaned up details and changed the skin color some (it is always hard to trust that these photos on the web look like the real painting.) Through some small changes, I got Chris's head to rotate a little and Jono is closer to pointing at Horner. 

In the background, you can see the group of photogs back at the corner. They took a couple of tries and I have changed the yellow fenceline 5 or 6 times. 

Here is the current progress photo of the painting. If you click these images, I think you will get a larger view depending on your browser.

 I lowered the detail on all of the banners and am trying out removing the big "GEN" on the fence in the turn. The bike still needs its Photo 3 decal. I have some work to to on the pavement and fencing, but the painting won't change too much now when viewed from 20 ft away.

Details and Bright Pavement!

Working through some background details, Horner details, and little bits on the moto.

Then, I go for the big change of scraping on some lighter cover for the pavement. It was a bit scary, but after looking at it for a few hours, I think it will work. The contrast between the pavement and the shadows is key to the bright afternoon feeling.

Chris Horner's Grin

Here is a detail on the first pass for Chris Horner. It took a couple of attempts (scraping away much of the face a couple of times.) It is interesting that in person the grin is more pronounced from a distance than this detail shows. This is about the level of detail I like, but it will probably get some more work or even a mild scrape back.

Here is the current state of the whole painting, I'm till moving toward the shape I want on the big orange fence.

Head Details

Getting the perspective closer, but it still needs work. The fencing at the corner and at the end of the street are smaller to push them back. The main changes here are more detail in the moto, Jono, and Chris. 

Here is a detail (showing there is still some work to do here on the heads.) Jono looks a little pale.

Decisions, Decisions

I've made a little progress this week on two fronts. I have been working on the moto and getting a few too many details in there, but I want it to read correctly for someone who has seen a few BMW GS's. I also decided that the bicycle needs to be carefully tilted more so that it has more energy. I lengthened Horner's right thigh some and am working on lowering his handlebars (I hear it helps with getting that good aero position.) 

Now along with these decisions I have made I am looking at the fence on the right of the painting. I think it's perspective needs some work. I need to "push" the corner back and narrow the road without going too far. My other big decision is how big the contrast is going to be between the road and everything else. I have already pushed it darker around the moto and scraped it back after I didn't like it. I am fairly sure I want to vary it as it goes back into the picture plane. Just a bit more contrast in the foreground vs. the corner will also help "lengthen" road. So that is part of the struggle...

Slowly blocking in...

I am still sick, but got a little progress on blocking in the painting. The crowd is going to be made up of many layers. I am still considering exactly how I want the pavement to look.

Underpainting

With this stage of the painting, I am knocking down the white of the canvas and preparing for the layers to come later. I'm planning to make the pavement a bit darker than in the studies so the value range will be compressed. The stained underpainting will show through in gaps rather than white spots.

A Start

The canvas for the actual painting is a 30" x 40" Belgian Linen. It has a medium to smooth texture with some interesting imperfections that have a character I like. (I think they are called "slubs".)  Here is the sketch with some darks added.  

Studies

Here are the studies I produced for the painting:

The first was a 12" x 18" study. Chris Horner is moved to the right some from the reality of the photo reference.

The second study was a 12" x 12" with a little more detail in the moto. Going into it, I thought I might like this format better.  The spacing is between Horner and the guys is actually realistic, but as a whole, the format seemed cramped.