Artists drawing of Giant City State Park, in Southern IL, is by Mark W. Tribley

Today an entry is being started on an acrylic painting composition of a pond near my home.  Here is just the beginning that I worked on Thanksgiving Day.  On this entry I will continue with how I painted for one week in photos.  This painting is a learning session for me, as I have difficulty with color relationships that I have been trying to resolve by reading American Art Review for many years now, studying each school of art from the Hudson River School through Impressionism, and on.

A little more work and study of the photos I took on the fall day.  Not trying to reproduce the photo as I have done before by griding the photo and making charcoal larger grid lines on canvas.  Instead using the photo to recall the scene that I know so well.  Now the scene does not have the color and vegetation of course to study by direct sketching, so I am using photos for reference to recall the day I am attempting to create on canvas.  In other words, this canvas is a creation and not a direct photo to canvas placement  of each tree.  However, as I go further, I will use more detail from the photos.  I know when to stop painting and paint very little (over previous days work) since I am just a beginner.  I have done basically pen and ink drawing in black and white.  Also I spent many years as a sign painter working with lead based paints that are no longer used like they were when I was painting signs.
     A split piece of an old cedar tree with the intense color next to the canvas.  Upon being split revealing nearly purple hue which then fades to more reddish.

(Click on photo for larger view)
Dec. 16,   Working with Liquitex extender medium, also thinning with water, areas have been transparently painted over.

I will make painted additions carefully.  This is an enjoyable sketch attempt which I look at as something new for my living area.  I am not going to worry about  how it turns out, and treat it as a learning experience.

Continued updates on this entry will follow for this canvas.  Updated January 18, 2015

Updated January 22, 2015

The canvas has a "washed out" look.  This is still just a sketch.  The actual canvas has a look with more detail in the reflection, and I am learning technique of working with tiny bits of acrylic paint that dries quickly, so it must be kept moist on the palette and then covered with plastic wrap when left for awhile.  The extender medium can be applied over the entire canvas or with the paint.  It is in the experimental stage.  It costs pennies to do this.

Feb. 13_15

Having moved this painting/sketch to another room with different lighting, and by just placing it on the floor, I noticed the overwhelming, overall blueness to the entire painting.  This is due to the color used for the sky.  The sky will need be changed, now I understand.  Even though it is not perhaps noticeable with the flash photo shown.  Things like this are greatly helping me to understand color relationship.

Another note.  Having seen how by not doing backup of files for my photos on the external hard drive and then disconnecting the external HD, the chance of losing my photo's is always at risk.  I do have print outs, but after seeing a report on recent cyber threats, a secure back up of files is critical.  

March 1, 2015

Just an example of pen and ink done years ago, using National Geographic for reference, and some creative use of the tusks, clouds, and a Lion yawning.

Printed on offset printing and hand colored with color pencil.

Original done in rapidograph pen on Crescent cold press illustration board.

Any use of this Elephant pen and ink is to be approved first by Mark W. Tribley.

Title: "Elephant Graveyard"

Dragonfly 1976  Pen and Ink, Color Pencil.  Drawn from actual Insect mounted on end  (Insect found dead - on side of the road)  of a pin through direct observation.  Cattail from actual Cattail, no photographs involved.  Lake scene from class study (sketch) on S.I.U. Campus Lake, approximately 1975.

Signed, lower right border, Mark W. Tribley (Print)

3_8_2015

A new 24 by 36 inch canvas in sketch stage.  Shoreline has been tilted to make the composition work creatively as opposed to how it appears in the photo.  Colors are applied very thin at this point to establish values and color harmony.  This also gives me a record to refer back to as I progress.  I have used the first 18 by 24 inch canvas to understand how better I might approach painting.  Mixing Payne's Gray with Burnt Sienna (much lighter than Burnt Umber) the warm gray is harmonizing as well as bringing forward the foreground.  Cooler Payne's Gray by itself recedes.  Also reading about "Color Theory" involving the Color Compass is of great help.  I made several Color Compasses as a student attending Commercial Art classes.  A very exacting class graded on mixing tints and shades, etc.

March 13, 2015

The  blue in the water is a mixed "Metallic Blue", that is being tested, having mixed it with white and extender medium, over previously painted shoreline.  Sky has gray mixed with Cerulean Blue. Having a full tube of Orange acrylic is a good opportunity  for use in mixing with Green, since orange has red and yellow.  My first canvas was using the Primary Colors to start.  When Photography first arrived on the American art scene is was a concern that people would no longer want painted landscapes and prefer the realistic photographs.