Dusk in the Vineyards - III

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Here's more of the process of painting Dusk in the Vineyards, with a bit of a surprise.... Above, I've painted over the orange I'd begun to add in the last phase, and brought a lighter shade of robin's egg blue into the sky. I used a scumbling technique, so hints of the colors underneath are still influencing the colors on top.

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

I've brought more darks, and developed the colors a little further, in the trees and vines. Notice the touches of deep red and light blue in the grape leaves? The grape stakes and soil are developed a bit more, and I've brought a little more of a hint of the apricot color back into the sky, too – the idea is to develop its color in layers.

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The sky's apricot colors are a little more toned down here, and the colors of the vines and soil lighter and more vibrant – because of a change in the light in the studio. Lighting makes a huge difference, doesn't it? I photographed this the next day, when I arrived at the studio.

I photographed each of these stages on the easel, as the painting was in process, so the colors vary in each photograph depending on the time of day and whether there are any reflections casting light onto the canvas.

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

At this point, I thought the painting was getting verrrry close to completion. I brought a scumbled layer of a partly transparent tint of greenish blue down into the sunset's color, leaving only hints of the apricot along the horizon, and creating more of a transition between the colors.

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The process of painting is like a good conversation – I need to listen as well as talk. As any painting progresses, the painting itself will have more to tell more – and I need to listen, to learn where it wants to go. In this case, it wanted more orange in the sky, so I obliged.

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Then began a process of taking the sky in the direction it wanted to go, tilting parts of it towards green or yellowy-orange, or apricot, or the very subtlest of robin's egg blue.

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The sky is a lighter blue here, and I've brought more yellowy oranges into the sunset.

Dusk in the Vineyards • a painting in process • © 2012 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Here, the last colors of the sunset are toned down again, and I've scumbled some slightly deeper tints of robin's egg blue into the top portions of the sky. (The little shadow at the top was cast by the top of the easel.)

So what, you might wonder, was the surprise? The surprise was the sunset. It wanted to be in the painting, to a greater degree than the palest hints of apricot that my photograph had captured. This painting came to me with a title (now and then they do announce their presence), Dusk in the Vineyards. So I'm wondering... should I rename it Sunset in the Vineyards? Hmmmm... something to ponder....