I have threatened to paint some sand dunes for a long time and finally got round to it last night with an iPad painting using ProCreate. The colour you actually use feels contradictory to actual sand colour, but it is the blues and greys in the shadows that are drawing me. I plan to convert this digital painting to an oil one with the aim of painting some of our local dunes here in the UAE in due time.
I converted my iPad painting (performed in ProCreate) of the “Golden sunset” to an oil painting over the weekend. I struggled to transfer the original photo to the painting until I turned to the digital iPad painting as reference. I realized that the abstraction into the digital painting was what I needed to be be able to abstract the image into oil. The conversion of complex objects, such as clouds, has always been difficult for me, but the initial digital painting may just be the key. In the digital painting I can try and undo and try again until I get it right, whereas the oil painting is somewhat unforgiving against mistakes.
I also used Winson&Newton’s Liquin in this painting. Liquin is a resin-like oil paint medium that dramatically decreases the setting and drying time of the paint to the point where it behaves like acrylics. I found this to be important to effectively paint the clouds, which are highly dependent on layering.
Overall I worked on the painting in 3 different sessions and, when I stood back with my cup of coffee, the coffee tasted really good!
Francois' Art Blog 