Life Jacket Painting

January 25, 2022 Post a Comment

This is the story of how I turned a silly quondam life jacket into one of my best selling works of art and then far.

It's funny how sometimes a really practiced idea can be starring your in the face; sometimes for years even. Information technology just goes to show you lot how you should never disbelieve the subjects in your daily life and y'all never know when an opportunity will nowadays itself. Yous merely have to keep moving forrard and keep your caput up, gear up for opportunities.

I can remember going out in a small blue row boat with my father. I was not even ten years old yet. Nosotros would dig clams with an old rusty clam rake. Neither of the states liked to consume clams, only my mother sure did and still does! And so nosotros dug.

The first matter my father did before we went out onto the water was to cinch me upward in this beefy, orange life jacket. I hated it. It seemed old, even then and besides it wasn't very comfortable. He used to say things like "concur still damn it" as he tightened the straps effectually my little body. I put up with information technology considering he was in charge and I really wanted to leave on the h2o. Whether, clamming, fishing, or the occasional water skiing venture, I always looked forward to getting out on the water and this life jacket was my ticket to those adventures.

So there it stood, for years hanging in my parent'due south garage. This life jacket, still bulky, withal orange, although somewhat faded hung from a blast next to my parent's compact auto parked in their single car garage. For decades this life jacket was in plain sight for me to see. I must have encountered it hundreds of times.

I'one thousand not sure why, simply at some point it struck me every bit an item to paint. I had been having much success with my marine-themed paintings then I idea I would requite this a try.

I cleaned it off a bit, with a hose. I had way too much dust clinging to the top of its surface. After it dried I cleared out my nonetheless life staging area and hung this old beauty from a big nail. I guess I should mention how I commencement placed some paneling against the wall of the staging area. It was actually the same paneling I used for my saddle bag painting. The color worked perfectly! The rustic orange colour of the life jacket was hit against the off-green paneling.

I spent more fourth dimension then one would imaging playing with diverse compositions. I mean, how many compositions tin can y'all become out of a simple onetime life jacket?

Many.

I played with lighting and more than anything I spent a couple of hours manipulating the buckle and strap. I wanted it to await natural, but beautiful. I likewise needed the strap to stay put, because a painting this large would take weeks to undertake.

With everything in place I did a poster written report of the setup. This was just a small non-detailed painting that allowed me to calculate the colors I would need and to meet a visual manifestation of my ideas.

I likewise recorded some of the color recipes in my notebook as well. I tend to do this on my larger works and have establish information technology handy should I need to remix specific colors to revisit troubled or unfinished areas of a painting.

Here's a folio from my sketchbook, which is really 1-office sketchbook and i-part notebook to exist completely honest!

Next I worked up a precise cartoon of the life jacket. I sight-sized this drawing so it was smaller than the actual painting was to be. Being primarily a line drawing I was interested in delineating the forms and color separations. Everything was meticulously measured out. I worked very difficult at getting the proportions correct.

In the drawing I made sure to separate the areas of lite from shadow. This is ever an exercise in decisiveness that proves it's worth fourth dimension and time once more. Information technology's not always easy to decide where form-shadow begins and grade-calorie-free ends, especially on areas of rounded forms. But, forcing this construct on my ain artwork non only helps me establish a plan, but a powerful composition as well. At present that I'd decided how to separate my lights and darks (the terminator edge) the painting would exist play out all-the-more-smoothly!

I finally transferred my drawing to a stretched canvas and began painting. Considering I had done so much preparatory piece of work I approached this painting in more than of a "complete ane section at a time" fashion. I would never paint this way if I was feeling my manner through the discipline matter. The fact that I had done drawings, I had worked out my composition and even well-nigh of my colors ahead of time allowed me to piece of work this way. Here's a few photos of the life jacket painting in progress.

You'll detect that equally I'm painting along I'm including details with confidence. As I moved very slowly from 1 area to the next the previous areas looked almost consummate! I never used to piece of work this mode as information technology causeless too much confidence and devotion to an un-proven area of pigment. But, I must stress I was confident after I spent days planning and working out all of the bug ahead of time. Painting then just becomes a routine of following your own plan!

I have found that most people lack the patience to work out everything alee of time. Everyone wants to jump right into the painting. I take those urges as well, only I take never regretted putting in the planning (drawings, color studies, etc.) alee of time. I tin can't say the aforementioned near hastily jumping into the bodily painting procedure!

The painting naturally required some touch-ups and the background paneling always takes way too many hours to complete, but it's all worth it in the end.

I was super proud of this life jacket painting and feel I honored some of my childhood memories well. Consequently, it hit the gallery wall in NY and sold in less than iii days! It'due south great when difficult work, planning and an emotionally stimulating piece of work of fine art also meet the demands of art collectors. Ahhh… the sweet spot indeed 🙂

An if you've been reading thus far I call up you lot deserve a closeup of the painting… bask!