Coal Miner's Spring

This photo was taken years ago during an early spring day near our local coal mine relic.

This image is going to be used as the basis for an experiment. The painting will be completed in acrylic on a 30" by 40" canvas.


I began the painting with a very simple pencil sketch of just the landmarks in the photo.

The experiment part is that a layer of complimentary colors will be applied first and then covered with the natural color. It is "iffy" as to whether this will work as acrylic "covers" the under-layers without blending. I have tried using various colors other than white as the base for acrylic paintings with some success.

The image above shows the beginning of the painting where orange is applied instead of the natural blue colors.

Below is the final version of the under-painting. It is intentionally detail sparse.

The next step will be to begin the natural colors starting with the background and building up layers.