The Studio Finish
What is a studio finished painting?
The studio finish is the final version, the masterpiece.
These paintings start off as sketches and drawings. If they are a commissioned piece, lengthly conversations with the buyers begin. This is done to sort through the element flow and generalize where to place them.
Ideally, afterward comes the En Plein Air painting(s). En Plein Air means painting outside at your inspiration locale. This is done on a smaller canvas of similar aspect ratio to the studio canvas. Since you only have one day to capture the en plein air colors, angles, texture swatches, these paintings can look real rough or blurry. The vague brushstrokes will only loosely resemble their real form. These paintings, however have a beauty all of their own. If you run out of time, photo references are your next best option. They lack the 3D shadows only your eyes can pick up but, they are better than nothing.
Once all the references are gathered; the sketches, en plein air, and photos the studio work begins. This happens on a larger canvas anchored usually to a prima donna studio-sized easel. My studio easel even has weights and pulleys for movement ease. Brushes, paints, the use of a Mahl stick round out the studio finished process.
These paintings take months to compete. They are heavily detailed and meant to be heirloom pieces passed down for generations. I use premium archival paints such as Michael Harding of London and Vasari of NYC which will not fade and hold their color saturation for hundreds of years.
We invite you to come to the Wimberely Arts Fest this weekend and search for that one of a kind studio finished masterpiece that captures your heart!
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