Fixing A Broken Painting

As a oil painter there are always problems you have to over come to make a good painting. Sometimes you either rushed things a bit or your materials weren't perfect or your knowledge just wasn't there yet. The after sight is what I was dealing with recently.

I usually don't go back a rework paintings very often, but I did on this one. 

The Salt Creek painting as it sat on a wall

And here's why I did

There was a lot of things that I liked about this painting when I finished it the first time. 

It was a bigger painting than I usually do.

I liked the composition, the light coming thru the tree, the water effects and the over all colors used was interesting in the painting. 

But what I later decided I didn't like and bothered the dickens out of me was the main tree and the grasses around it.  What was I thinking? And the foreground wasn't as interesting as I would like it to be, and the clouds need help also.

The tree area I would be targeting first a long with color changes

So I made up my mind to go back in and make some changes-

First I would start with the tree! If this painting was going to be any good that tree had to be interesting. So I took a photo of it and took it into Photoshop and played around with it and came up with a plan.

A Plan is the MOST important piece of re-working a painting! If you don't know what to fix you are playing not painting.

The Photoshopped in a tree that I felt would be more impactful to the scene.
 An older tree with a little more tilt to it.

This where I when to work and here is what it turned into.

"Salt Creek" By James Swanson
24 x 30 Oil

The purple mass of trees behind the main tree was something of a surprise, I didn't expect it to work out so well as it did. It added a whole new feel that I went with by bringing in that color into other places in the painting to move the eye around.

Now Salt Creek is ready to go back on the wall, this time with a fresh and stronger look.

Day #3 in A Dog Day Month

This is a very special and sad painting. It's a painting of my friend Gillian Bryce's Gidget.

I woke up on Friday morning with a painting in mind for day #3 and that lasted until i saw a post from Gillian telling of her pups death. I painted her 3 pups already for her last year and knew she must be really hurting. I started painting dogs and pets for people because of the death of 

my Amber last year.

With Gillian's heart in mind, I change some days around and painted her Gidget as Day #3. What a great little dog and friend she was.

Day # 3 Gidget

She the up to date paintings of this project here- Dog Day2

"Haley" Day 2 in A Dog Day Month2

When I started thinking about starting up this project this year I wanted it to be more than pretty pictures of great dogs, I wanted to paint the spirit of these great beasts.

Haley, is one of those. This brave little pup is a wonderful subject that I was looking for in this project. Since an accident as a pup, Haley has used a walker to get around. 

When I first saw the photo artist friend Flynn Gentry-Taylor I didn't realize what it was Haley had around her. When Flynn told me she had an injury at birth, she is doing water therapy and has her own walker, she lives in Alaska....I had to paint her story. She really deserves that.

Day #2 "Haley" of A Dog Day Month2

Thanks again to Flynn for sending Haley this way for my month long dog painting a day project. You can see the rest of this project at jamesswansonfineart.com

Day 1 of Dog Day Month2

Last years Dog Day Month of July was such a huge success I decided to do it again.

With in a minute of announcing the project I had people signing their pups up. With in 15 minutes I had a gallery wanting the project to exhibit - the ACE Gallery in Fort Collins for the month of October with part of the proceeds going to animal shelters.

Picking the first pup to paint, was a tough one. I have some many sent in to choose from right I was a kid in a candy store.

I picked Cissy because of the eyes and color. I remember last years paintings and Cissy reminded me of a couple of paintings from that project.

Day 1 painting "Cissy" 11x14 oil

Initial sketch on canvas

Blocked in. Cissy is about halfway done.

Thanks to Cissy's owner Roseanne Hart for sending her in!

The paintings of this project are for sale to the pet owners first before they go on public

exhibition at the ACE Gallery.

See the whole month of paintings at James Swanson Fine Art.