David King Studio: From Sketch to Painting

The other day I wrote a blog post about doing some small experimental multimedia sketches HERE. One of the purposes of doing those sketches besides experimenting with new techniques and materials was to test out compositions and ideas for paintings. I took the first sketch from that post and developed a painting from it.

Winter Tree Trunks at Wheeler Farm
Acrylic, 12" X 16"

I often go for walks at Wheeler Farm in Murray, Utah. The farm itself isn't that big but there is a mostly natural area with trails behind the farm where I can walk for over a mile without covering the same ground. There are many interesting compositions to find in that patch of land, this painting is based on one of them. This scene is at edge of a horse pasture where the land slopes up along a tree line and bushes. In winter the trees lose their leaves which cover the ground in yellow orange texture while exposing tree trunks and branches. Since there hadn't been much snow lately only a portion of the ground that spends much of it's time in shade was still covered in snow.

This painting was also a bit experimental.

I started by using foam rollers to lay in the basic composition and also applied some acrylic inks and let them drip.

Then I used charcoal and pastels to add some lines and tones to further define the composition. I sprayed some thinned down mat medium to seal it.

Now I started putting in the acrylic paint. Working from the top/background down I just used brushes at first and kept the paint relatively thin. After that I started laying in thicker paint using knives as you can see in these detail close ups of the finished painting.