Flat Out – 2012-2013 – Hybrid on Canvas – 34″H x 50″W

The inspiration for Flat Out and the related image in the exhibition, Swimming Hole, was the experience of looking at Buttermilk Falls (near Long Lake in the Adirondacks)  from the perspective of the shallow pools below the falls in early morning.  I had painted a smaller section of the scene in 2011:  Golden Morning 2011, acrylic on canvas, 16×20″

During most of the first morning that I was painting, a fisherman was at work in the distance. And I took many pictures of him, including this classic image with the airborne fishing line.

The next year (2012) when I was about to return to the same spot, I worked in Photoshop to create two slightly different files to eventually print and paint on. The larger canvas one (Flat Out) includes the fisherman.

For the digital manipulation I started with a photograph I had taken of an early painting stage of Golden Morning.

On top of that I layered in several photographs. The image below shows them combined in one layer (although the individual layers were later adjusted slightly), with the white indicating where the layer is transparent and the painting would show through.

I manipulated and combined the layers and had them printed on canvas after restoring color to some of the photographs, and established a pale gray base layer that shows around edges:

The log was gone when I returned in August of 2012 to paint, and I liked the open pool . The photo below of the work in progress shows the log disappearing as I replace it with water. At this stage I was working on the transition between the foreground and background. (the image below misrepresents the edge’s color- it is all a pale gray)

Eventually that bottom section was reworked many times and only completed in the late fall of 2013 (and a few minor changes in early 2014) as I adjusted the flow of light and water.

The file for the smaller work on paper subdued the far shore and eliminated the fisherman. See the next entry for information about Swimming Hole