Stone Benefits
2022, acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28 inches (56 cm x 71 cm), held by artist.
The card reads...
Kimberly and I had a great visit to the mountains and a certain rock formation really caught my eye. It reminded me that some of our obstacles can have a beauty of their own. While we can’t always choose the road we must take, the hurdles encountered – attractive or not - can help us grow. I thank God that He knows what is best for me.
This was my 31st Christmas card and I was pretty happy with it. Like always, the card tradition helps me paint at least one thing a year, but I did better in 2022. Not much, but I did paint more than just the card. There was some pressure to add something with a Christmas flair, but the last few years I've focused on making more of a timeless piece. Christmas Crow of 2014 was the most recent card with something that could be specifically related to Christmas. Maybe I'll revisit in following years.
I love working on skies and clouds. They can be fun and frustrating - they should be fun. This year I thought I'd watch a couple videos and heard that stuck with me. I didn't write it down, but it was something to the effect of 'clouds come from the inside not the outside'. That's good for me to remember. Trying too hard to get a very specific look takes away some of the fun. I had fun with these clouds. I was a little loose with the sky - meaning I wasn't overly concerned with a perfect blend. Often, I can cover some defects in the sky with the clouds themselves. It worked out well, but the difference between the second and third shots above is the addition of another plume to cover a swirl that was a bit too 'radical' for me.
After being satisfied with the sky and clouds came the tricky part - adding the rock formation. Rocks probably shouldn't be 'tricky', but I haven't practice rock formations much. Above is the sketch but the actual inspiration is from a drive I took in the mountains - shown on the right.
UPDATE 27 DEC 22: I added some color to the original sketch with the water color sticks (pencils) Kimberly gave me. I actually didn't realize they were water color sticks - I thought they were colored pencils. You can see the difference when adding water in the two sketches below...
Water color sticks applied dry.
Water color sticks after applying water - nice blending effect.
For the initial application of rocks/stones, I went a with only a couple colors. I wanted to lay down the basic shapes, and it forced me to start covering the sky. The main rock needed to be 'softer' and you can see I made it wider. Finding the 'right' color for the stones - the color I liked and close to the photo - was harder than I thought it'd be. The only difference between the picture on the right and the final painting is some more shadows, more color in the lower left, and my signature.
Stone Benefits in a sample frame.
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