I signed the piece and then mounted it on my desktop Best easel.  Then I always move the completed piece into my house from room to room to observe it in different light and time of day.  This allows me to make slight adjustments that I may have missed before signing off.

In the end, I decided not to put the lavendar in the foreground corner.  I was very pleased with the fencing and the plants would have been in the dark of the oak's shadow leaving them to be nothing more than clutter.

This was a relatively quick piece with 45 hours.  Final value:  $2450
SOLD

I moved from middle to foreground laying in all the details and modeling all the finest elements.

As I move around the painting, I am also making value changes in darks and lights.

I layed the form layer for the foreground fencing and set the painting aside to dry for the final work...scrumbling and the smallest accents of light and dark.

*As a treat to the owners of this ranch and painting, I engraved their initials in the gate post with my size 0 brush.

As I needed to protect the foreground fencing, after each layer (3), I would 'clean' all the way down to the underpainting on each post and rail.

Now I raise my canvas on my Best easel for the standing work.  The canopy will require that I move in and out on my feet to keep check on the values and shapes.

I use a fairly large #6 bristle fan brush.  I load tons of sap green on one end and ivory black on the other.  This allows me to flip the brush from one end to the other quickly while I am shaping the canopy.

While my thick paint is still wet, I come back in with sap green and titanium white in varying mixes to adjust medium values and touch up any 'see-through-the-tree-to-the-sky' areas that got lost in my exuberant earlier brush work.

Finally, I mix dioxazine purple, ivory black, sap green and titanium white to lay in the dark, medium and light values of the dying branch on the backside of the tree.  This was actually a whole tree between the foreground and background tree, which I removed from my painting.  However, my favorite color in this painting was the lavendar of the sunlit dead branches, so I took some artist's perogative and made it a dying branch of my main oak.  Not yet drafted on the canvas...will be some beautiful lavendar flowers in foreground corners in front of the upfront fencing to tie it all in.

Then I needed to paint the light green and lavendar leaves that were behind the main oak tree.  After they were in, I layed in the darks on the tree.

This will cure over the weekend and then I can start the details on the tree trunk and the canopy of dark leaves overhead.  I had to quit for the day as the good light in the studio faded away.  (which is why this pic is kinda dark, sorry.)

First is the background.  I pull out my number 1 filberts, rounds and flats to put in the shapes.

Working back to front, I move toward the middle ground and then lay in the first layers of the pasture.  As I move forward...the brushes get bigger.

After I get the middle and foreground covered, I move back to the background to finish the details.  I finished the out-building and fencing there.  I can't start the oak tree canopy, until the background is finished.

Next I put the first coat of paint on the gate and foreground fencing. 

I also layed in the first grapevine leaves on the top of the butterfly gate.  These strokes were thick and free-spirited.  There is already a couple layers of paint on the pasture behind the leaves and since these will be very detailed at the end, I used more of a 3d modeling effect with my brushwork to make them pop out at the viewer.

The painting starts looking a little flat right about now, but that's ok.  In the final stages of painting, I will be putting in the darkest darks and highlights to accent the details and make it come alive!

I made sure I was pleased with the distance mountain range and the far edge of the property on the horizon before I quit for the day.  These areas must be completed before I can start to work on the middle and foreground.  In landscapes, you paint back to front and everything underneath another element first.  This is why the fencing and gate will be the last items I work on.

Oak trees are the most amazingly shaped trees on the planet and probably the most fun to paint.  It almost looks like I have tried to finish the foreground tree trunk...but no.   That is just decades of studying the abstract shapes in the trunk and branches of these majestic trees and utilizing my brush strokes in a way that the very thinned down oil paint pudddles where I want it.  As the Turpenoid dries (very quickly), I am able to achieve a sense of form and tiny shapes.

Once the painting progresses, all that you see now in the tree trunk will be covered up with subsequent layers.  However this initial modeling with the thin paint  helps me to make decisions for later.  I am sorting out my final choices in values of  light, darks and shapes to see how they will influence the perspective.  A process that all artists must constantly be aware of from beginning to end.

This landscape was more of a portait of a property than anything else, so I had to be true to the elements in the piece.  But I did take artist license with illimination of many items on the property that were not vital to Ranchita's identity and that would 'clutter' my composition.

I also struggled a bit as to whether or not I wanted the 3rd horse...and where it should be placed.  So as I often do, I made a thumbnail clipping and moved it around the canvas stuck with tape.

In these initial planning stages, I am building a map that I want you to use as your eyes travel around the painting.   If you have a poor map, then your viewer's eyes are going to go left to right, by nature, and then be finished.  

To keep their eyes traveling in circles around each piece with gentle stops on my points of interest, I use composition, value changes and lighting.  I double-check it in my mirror to fool my own eye and then when I am happy...it's time to get the brushes out.

Fellow Artists...if you have the same battles with copyright infringement of your artwork that I do, don't hesitate to contact ARS for help. Here is their info:
A R S
Artists Rights Society . 536 Broadway . Fifth Floor . New York, NY 10012
(P) 1.212.420.9160 (F): 1.212.420.9286
www.arsny.com

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/italy-528-20111024-1mfks.html?postedRating=successful&assetId=2726496

Tammy S.

http://www.cafepress.com/deCastroStudios

Artists...go do a search for your subject matter and see if your work is there.  Like I did, you can follow these steps to get your valuable images removed from the site.  (I will keep you posted, as to whether Photobucket honors their promises.)

http://photobucket.com/copyright

I won't post the links, as I don't want any benefits going to the fool that took them:  Artemis1044 and othylleon  but here is one of the screenshots.  This one is of my Vizcaya, Florida watercolor painting...

All the best,

Blaine

Rachele
Italy 528 (restuarant)

http://www.azoony.com

a seven-brush day. Fellow artists.... how many brushes did you hold in your hands today?

At this stage of the painting, I have over 20 hrs of work. I add my smaller detail brushes, sizes 0 and up, to my repertoire for the day and begin the details. Visuallly, the changes are minimal. Can you see the differences?

I am now, for the first time, making a conscience effort to focus on abstract shapes that need correcting in shape and color. The smallest brush stroke can change the way an element looks in a painting, so this process will continue thorughout the rest of the painting's completion.

I set my larger brushes aside and move to smaller sized rounds for adding and blending the initial detail work. Changes are subtle as I move all around the canvas correcting color, shapes and values.

My easel is setup next to a closet with mirrored doors, so as I work I can view my progress in reverse. When artwork is viewed in a mirror, it tricks the eyes and helps you to see corrections you need to make throughout the creative process.

Research and reference materials for my paintings come in different forms. I may take many photos of my subject (as many as 50) and use my camera as a sketch pad framing the perfect piece. I do thumbnail sketches and paintings; or I occasionally paint 'en plein air'.

Another trick I use, when painting away from the studio, is to take a picture of my work in progress and 'flip' the image in my phone, camera or laptop software. This serves up the same result as in this 'mirror' pic.

While my dark contrasts are still wet, I like to move right into the midtone values. This allows me to move the oil paint around and blend more easily, so I can keep the structure of the different elements in check.

I am still using filbert brushes (as large as possible) for these initial stages of the painting process. I am always anxious to pick up the smaller brushes to begin my favorite part of each painting... the details. But it is important that I restrain myself, while I am fine-tuning the blocks of values, colors and structure.

I will let this layer cure to a firm enough surface to withstand the scrumbling and glazing that will come next.

Next I start laying in the darkest values. The painting starts looking weird again at this stage due to the extremes. I am not concerned with detail yet and even the structure will be fine-tuned at a later point.

Using a medium sized filbert brush on the flat side, I start laying in fill color. My goal here is to fill the entire canvas with the first layer of paint. This layer has less Turpenoid added in the paint mix to the consistancy of sour cream.

In oil painting, you need to paint lean to fat. Meaning, thinner to thicker paint, so as the piece cures over time, there is no 'cracking' from the natural movement of the under coats as the gases escape. I paint similiar to my watercolor method with many layers of color to achieve a beautiful transparency. When natural light hits the completed painting, even the 'clownish' underpainting colors show through for a realistic vibrancy.

There are many mediums out on the market to help the artist achieve this smooth buttery consistancy during the painting process, but since I paint in layers, I prefer the quick-drying properties of Turpenoid. This allows me to get back to the painting the next day.

After I am done laying in the color in this step, I go back over the entire painting with the same filbert brush using the side of it to blend and work the paint into the tooth of the canvas for a smooth painting session next time.

After the canvas is Gesso covered and dried. I begin by sketching right on the canvas with charcoal.

Next, I begin the underpainting process mixing the colors with Turpenoid to a 'watercolor' consistancy. The entire canvas is covered with this thin oily mix in base and complimentary colors. Some values are emphasized to keep balance between light and dark structure.

When I have enough paint on the canvas as to make the initial charcoal sketch difficult to see, then I put my brushes down and let the painting cure for the next step.

"Congratulations!  Your art piece offering "Capriole, Vienna" is the AZooNY.com artwork of the day!   Your piece will be featured on the http://AZooNY.com homepage for the next 24 hours."

Entry is Free!  Enter to win a $250 Gift Card to Samy's Camera; A cartoon-portrait of you and your Morgan or a Free canvas print of your winning photo!

Sponsored by Merriewold Morgans, Samy's Camera, Entera and Simi Valley Photo Labs

http://bjdecastro.com/artstore/

Beware of Forgeries! 

Collectors, Please be aware that yet another site has been stealing my artwork and selling it painted by their artists.  These are forgeries of my work.  If you have any doubt as to the authenticity of one of my pieces, please email me.

oil paintings gallery dot com

Your art piece offering "The Spanish Steps, Rome, Italy - L/E Print" is the AZooNY.com artwork of the day! Your piece will be featured on the http://AZooNY.com homepage for the next 24 hours.

The books are due out in January 2010.  To get ordering information, please visit http://www.bestofartists.com

Thank you for all of your assistance on our custom wall-sized print of The Spanish Steps, Rome.

We think the Watercolor is beautiful, and know we will get much enjoyment from it.

Thanks Again.

Kathleen

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