Last summer while on a road trip, I was driving towards Cody, Wyoming. As best as I can recall, on a delightfully barren stretch of highway 120, I saw three dark, weather beaten billboards back lit by the late afternoon sun. The fact that there was no advertising remaining on their long unused surfaces coupled with stark contrast of dark billboard shapes against bright sky really made the whole scene stick out in my mind. Since I was actually driving at the time, I have no photos of the billboards, but I did make a quick sketch to remind myself for future images I might make.
A little time later, I decided to turn that sketch into carved wood signs. Making signs and carved letters with my trusty Dremel Tool.
After carving these components, I am ready to try to use them in a new piece/composition.
Initially, I roughly laid out where I wanted my shapes and signs to go. Once I had an arrangement/ composition I thought would work, I adhered all of the components/shapes to my canvas.
If you are curious to see the first layer of imagery on this canvas, check out this older blog post by clicking HERE!
Priming the wood and fabric-wrapped shapes with several layers of paint.
This is the original sketch for the idea.....
Back to work.
Another carved wood element.
I decided to add a few extra ingredients to the mix.
Now it is time for a few patches of color to kick off the process of figuring out who/what goes where.
You can see some of the stitching and patching I added several layers prior.
A second wash of color(s).
After combing through my sketch books, I found some images that would work well together on the canvas.
Time to go from sketch to 'reality'....
The first wave of color.
A little more line work.......
Down on the bottom register, I added numerous squares. They will be filled in to become a calendar/game board reminiscent of the classic board game, PAYDAY! Below are a couple of sketches I made based on the game/game board.
Always some room in my compositions for Gato Fato.
Down on the bottom register, I added numerous squares. They will be filled in to become a calendar/game board reminiscent of the classic board game, PAYDAY! Below are a couple of sketches I made based on the game/game board.
Even though I have the board game right next to me, I still find it handy/necessary to draw out the different squares on paper first. Somehow translating it into my own lines with a pencil helps me paint it. I like these drawings well-enough, that they may make an appearance in another piece I'm working on: "How To Be A Gentleman Of Leisure" (more on that in a future post).
Now on to the canvas.....
A couple close ups of the days of the month.
I still need to finish the color on this layer before I push any further, but this is a good start for today. Perhaps, the next time I discuss this piece I will have a working title for it?
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