Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

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Another painting step-by-step but without written instructions.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

This step-by-step is different from the previous post.

I'm working on a commissioned painting for a friend whose brother was in Iraq. For those of you who are interested in the progression of a painting of this sort (image montage), you can view the painting as I work on it one photo at a time. Even if you're not interested in this from an art standpoint, you might still enjoy a peek or two. I know I love to watch other people draw and paint to see how their mind works.

For the artists and others out there who have questions on what I'm doing, just leave a comment and I'll see if I can answer you.

The music I'm listening to as I paint this includes the soundtracks from "The Thin Red Line", "Black Hawk Down" and "Tears of the Sun." I also have Mozart's Requiem and Henryk Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 with Dawn Upshaw in the pile. A morbid collection to be listening to, perhaps, but it works for me. Gotta have the right tunes.

Montage paintings are always a challenge for me. There's lots of elements and not all of them have equal importance. I have to juggle back and forth between placement and implied line and cool and warm hues and detail -- it's a real back-and-forth effort trying to keep everything in balance. My friend had so many good ideas for this painting that I started to worry that I'd get them all in: a 9/11 reference; equipment that he drove; Iraqi buildings; a helicopter; a flag; a Native American warrior head (he's part Native American); the missing man formation for the guys in his group that died; a huge hole (they worked with removing IEDs, I think); and the main image, of course, is the photo of him and his son the day he arrived back in Fargo.

As you can see from the photos below, I start with a drawing and add layer upon layer of watercolor, colored pencil, water crayon, gesso and acrylic medium. The final result will be composed of nearly 20 layers of work.

Anyway, keep coming back. I might not have it all done today, but I will keep adding steps until I get to the end and have a Finished Painting for you to look at.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Finished Painting