Schneesturm

Two paintings today, both on cracklepasted board and both with the help of acrylic inks to bring out the cracks.  This is the first.

This one started with quite a boring application of crackle paste, looking like a zigzagging mountain skyline.  Even then, the peak on the right is a bit too childishly pointy.  Oh well.

After the paste had been given a couple of days to dry, I tried using acrylic inks and granulation medium to fill in the cracks.  Ink colours were sepia, indigo and a bit of gold waterfall green.  It’s difficult to see any remnants of those last two still there though.

Anyway, on to painting.  I don’t claim to have done this one in a particular key, with more than one yellow playing a key role.  The sky was painted first in Indian yellow, left to dry, painted over in quinacridone magenta, left to dry and then painted over in French ultramarine.  But it didn’t look as if it was going to come out in the great colour that I created in Key Street Florida, so I interfered and used a towel to blot out some of bits.

Next up the mountain on the right.  This was painted in French ultramarine and burnt sienna, two colours that mix to a nice grey.  I managed to get the value of this bit right for once, pale and faded.

And then there was the mountain on the left.  I started with thicker versions of the French ultramarine and burnt sienna but wasn’t satisfied.  So I threw in some Indian yellow for a bit of light near the top, some transparent yellow for a bit of greenery at the bottom and quinacridone magenta in a few places for variety.  I may even have added in some rose dore.

At the end, I still felt the painting had something missing, so added in some titanium white snow splatters and stopped there.

Overall, I think this works.  The colours in the mountains are good and the cracks add a lot of character.  The snow adds something too, although in the foreground it looks like snow has landed on a camera lens rather than floating through the sky.  The worst bit is probably the low point on the skyline in the middle, where the mountain on the right is nestled inside the one on the left rather than being behind it.  And I guess I could be accused of not pushing myself with this painting – I’ve played it a bit safe.