Napscape ... the saga continues ...

Napscape WORK-IN-PROGRESS detail:

Tired of this painting yet? Not me! Every section is like its own little painting, and putting it all together is getting more and more fun. I’ve really had to be patient with this one, and there have been a couple of days the bursitis in my right shoulder was really acting up (a little painful, a LOT annoying!) so I would only paint for a couple of hours at a stretch and then come back a little while later.

If you’re curious, I have been logging my hours and as of the end of today’s session I’m right at 22 hours actual painting time on this. Not TOO bad a pace when you consider that what I’ve done so far is sort of equivalent to approximately five or six little 6x6 paintings. And the more work I put in on it, the faster it seems to go.

Here are my progress photos since the last post on this:

Here’s where I was when I left off last time.

Now I’m starting with the part of the quilt draped over the back of the sofa, remembering this part is in shadow, so the colors will appear grayer and not as saturated as the colors of the quilt falling over the front of the sofa, which is in light.

I paint all the beige colored squares first. They’re not all the same exact color of course, but all in beiges and grays, with some subtle highlights added to indicate the way the fabric puffs up around the stitches. Look how light the paint appears on the dark underpainting ...

... compared to how much darker it appears on my palette. Hard to believe those neutrals on my palette are the same as the ones on the painting.

Now, one by one, I paint the patterned quilt squares in between the neutral squares, painting loosely to let the purple of the underpainting show through in places, and again adding highlights to give the quilted fabric some depth.

At this point I started with a fresh palette of paint, and I began painting the part of the quilt hanging over the front edge of the sofa. This section is in slightly lighter and brighter colors. Notice the “lost edge” at the left edge of the quilt, toward the bottom. This was where the light color on front of the sofa arm sort of blended into the piping on the edge of the quilt. Look for “lost and found” edges of objects where they go in and out of shadow or bright light wherever you can to add interest.

As I paint this little section from left to right, again I let the underpainting show through in some places.

Here’s another lost edge, where the light hitting the soft green blanket at the right of the picture causes it to blend in with the light color of the quilt at that spot.

Here’s the entire painting at this point. Next I think I’ll do the arm of the sofa and Blue the hound dog. Then I’ll finish up with the rest of the quilt in the foreground.

Here’s how my palette looks at this point, and below are some close-up details, so you can see how the underpainting is showing through in places.

Check in again for the continuing adventures of Napscape!