Technical Section: Higher Ground
The six blocks below show how Higher Ground was created.
1. A painting like this is really difficult to begin in color on site because the light changes so quickly, and frankly, it's dark and hard to see well enough to paint. So, I made myself content with a hasty photo and a sketch.
The photo was completely inadequate because of the lighting situation and I returned many times to the site to look at buildings in greater detail to understand how the shapes were arranged in the dark corners. I ended up standing in the middle of the road more than once trying to see just how the buildings receded. Thank goodness for prudent drivers who spotted a deranged painter and slowed down.
I decided to use a large square format and employ one-point perspective, to create a strong sense of movement. I wanted the road, the receding buildings and the light hovering over the valley to pull your attention toward the focal point – the light fading behind the mountains. Then I wanted the faint cloud formations to pull your attention up into the sky and out of the top of the painting.
I put a grid on my initial sketch and then gridded up a piece of paper the size of the bottom of the painting in order to blow up the image. You can see the dot I used to create the one point perspective.
2. Then I put charcoal on the back of the drawing and transferred it to the canvas.
3. It is customary to begin a painting with the background first, so that the foreground can be painted on top of it. This was like starting with the dessert first. Here is the initial layer of paint. Two more layers followed this before the sky became deep and complex enough to satisfy me. Light travels through layers of oil paint and back out to the eye, carrying with it the colors of each layer. The sky literally becomes deeper with each layer of color.
4. Then began the long exercise of creating the buildings and signage of the foreground.
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5. Here’s the final result, “Higher Ground,” 36” X 36,” oil on linen, mounted on birch.
I believe one of the reasons this painting is effective is because it puts emphasis on the sky, which is big out here. This really conveys the experience of driving down 3300 South at sunset.
The painting also makes good use of the contrast between warm and cool colors to intensify the blues and pinks. Putting opposites on the color wheel next to each other makes the colors more "true" to themselves. This technique is used not only in the sky but in the buildings below it. Note how the buildings and road are cool, but the majority of the lights within the buildings or reflected from them are warm.
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Here are a few more local paintings:
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Dusk, 20" X 16," oil on linen, mounted on birch
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Wasatch Range, 6" X 12," oil on linen mounted on panel
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Come Home, 24" x 18," oil on linen mounted on birch
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The Last Rose, 30" x 24," oil on linen, mounted on birch
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Harbor Electric, 17" x 27," oil on linen, mounted on birch
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Don’t hesitate to drop me an email to request a price sheet for these paintings or any others you see on my website. I do commission work in pencil and in oil. Those prices are already posted in the Commission portion of the site.
I’ll write again in April with a group of floral paintings to usher in Spring. Right now, I couldn't bear to paint another moment of Fall or Winter.
Thank you for your time and attention. Let’s stay in touch.
All the best, Elise Zoller
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P.S. Most of you have found your way onto this mailing list because you have come through my studio during one of Poor Yorick’s open houses and signed the email list. The rest of you are friends, family, and customers who have seen my career develop over the last twenty years. If, for any reason at all, you don’t want my monthly emails, please just hit the unsubscribe link below and it will take you off the list. Life is too short to be getting annoying emails. Get outside. Spring is coming!
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