We have lots to catch up on. I last left you good folks with a rather large, 72×84 empty canvas on the easel. Since then I’ve been working on it. As I mentioned before, this is the largest easel painting I’ve done and it has been a blast so far. I really like working large.

Here you can see me standing back about as far as I can using the small study as a guide to sketch in the placement of the figures on the canvas.

In order to do this, I taped a charcoal pencil on the end of my mahl stick. It’s the only way I could think of to get it done.

I don’t know if you can tell or not but I drew grid lines on the large canvas that correspond with grid lines on the study. That helped with the placement of the figures according to the study.

Next I began to block in the figures with just a dark wash of oil paint.

With the figures now blocked in I can begin to assess whether they will work in that location. Often, what is done in a small study doesn’t necessarily translate to a larger presentation. At this stage, I can easily wipe the wash off and adjust it accordingly if needed.

I think it’ll work just fine in this case. Now I can begin to add color in a serious manner.

Continuing to develop the overall relationship of everything as it relates to the whole.

Once all of the color is blocked in, I can go back to the figures and begin completing them. The figures are most important, not only because the viewer will focus on them but, each needs to relate to the other in a matter of scale. The front most rider commands the attention while the second rider less so and the third rider is merely a suggestion at this point.

This is where I’m at as of last night. From here on, it gets harder to see the progress. I’m probably within days of finishing now.

There’s lots more to share with you about what’s going on. I’ll give you a sneak preview.

For all my followers down Texas way, I’ll be in Marble Falls March 29 through April 2nd participating in the 11th Annual Paint The Town Plein Air Art Show and Competition. More on that as we get closer.

The big news right now is that Plein Air Magazine and national slick glossy featuring the countries leading plein air painters and events did a feature article on me. It’s in the March Issue on the rack at Barnes and Noble bookstores and fine magazine racks nationwide if you’re not a subscriber.

I don’t want to wear out my welcome so I’ll bid you farewell until next time.

Thanks for following along. The season is just getting started and I have a lot on tap.

Mike