Starting another painting for Gallery 1870 in the Napa Valley. This will be a view of the vineyard through a rugged, rock archway. My basic composition is sketched up on the canvas with a thin oil wash made of MUD (2 parts Ultramarine Blue + 1 part Alizarin Crimson) + Liquin. The building is “Built” first. Please remember as you read through my blog, you may click on any of the images to view them larger.
The scene in the background is drawn next. The vines are washed in with mixes of Viridian Green + Liquin and Pthalo Blue + Liquin.
Painting begins with the sky and distant mountains. You may have noticed in the previous step that I had some trees along the back of the vineyard on the left side. I decided that the space would be too closed in with the trees, so I painted the mountains over them. Leaving them out increases the openness, giving more depth to the landscape.
The ground under the vines is covered with mixes of Cadmium Orange + Ultramarine Blue + White. Then the posts are pulled into the wet paint with a brush dipped in MUD + Liquin.
Vines are painted with combinations in varying proportions of Pthalo Blue + Cadimum Yellow Medium and Pthalo Blue + Cadmium Orange + White. The second, bluer or cooler, mix is used at the distant ends of the rows to make them recede. The warmer mixes of Pthalo Blue + Cadmium Yellow Medium come forward.
The old stone walls are blocked in with various mixes of Cadmium Orange + Pthalo Blue + MUD + White, Cadmium Orange + Cadmium Yellow Medium + MUD + White and MUD + White. Also brushstrokes of Cadmium Orange + Pthalo Blue + White from the vines is added here and there. The color is applied with lots of texture and variation in tone to give the appearance of the rugged, antique rocks. Crevices between the stones are made with MUD + Liquin. The goal is to not outline each and every stone, but rather just indicate the shapes impressionistically.
We should finish up in our next session. Why don’t you grab some gardening gloves and you can come help me plant the flowers! With Colorful Smiles,
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Mikki Senkarik 
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