Study for “This is not a Stop Sign,” 5″ x 7″, NFS

stop_sign_study

I took this picture of a really tall stop sign. I got right up underneath it and took a strong-angled pic of it.

I continue to learn. On this painting, I learned that stop signs aren’t really red at all. I didn’t believe myself at first, so I used the eyedropper tool in The GIMP (free, Photoshop-like app for Linux) and picked the colors. This stop sign is burnt sienna and pink, actually. My instinct was to reach for the cad red medium, but there’s no cad red medium in this sign.

I learned to trust myself with direct color-on-color, wet-on-wet painting with much of this painting. The pole came out beautifully, in fact, and it was done with only a few strokes of strong color.

I learned that the outer edges of the sign, the white border, is really, really hard to paint. And it’s not white, either – it’s light pink at the top and grayish pink at the bottom.

I learned how to apply a really, really thin line at the edge of the sign. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I pulled it off and I’m proud of myself for it.

I didn’t do a drawing for this. I had the picture turned 180 degrees and I painted it that way, too. I’ve done the “upside-down drawings” bit before so this isn’t new to me. This is just a study so I figured I’d keep it loose and go with it, flaws and all.

Speaking of flaws, I learned that I should do lettering right-side-up. The lettering is positively awful in this piece but, again, it’s a study and I learned a lot there, too. I learned how to remove paint for the letters after the fact and I figured out a good way to get the paint on there without making a mess by dragging the existing paint around and muddying things up.

Above all, though, I love the way the bolts came out. Simple, easy, effective.

I set myself free on this painting and I’m happy with this study. I am going to do an 11″ x 14″ version of this painting at some point in the future and I think I’ve learned quite a bit by doing a study on it. I’ve never done a painted study for a painting before. Lemme tell ya, it’s valuable.

Ciao.