“Ballou Pride” Painting— After the sketch is transferred to the surface, I use acrylic and alkyd paints to complete the painting. My process begins with blocking in the painting with an underpainting of acrylic. This step is important because it allows me to apply an opaque layer of paint for the alkyds so I use less of it. Alkyds are a fast drying oil paint that have the characteristics of traditional oils but dry faster. Image#1— starting with the figures in the foreground I apply color and then work between the foreground and background, with a focus of completing the figures. Once the acrylic underpainting is completed, Image#4, I paint over the acrylic with an overpainting of alkyd oil paint following the same process, focusing on the figures, adding details and bringing the painting to a level of finish. Image#5 shows the overpainting of the figures progressing to completion in contrast to the other areas that need attention.
“Ballou STAY” Painting—My strategy for the project was to work on both paintings simultaneously starting with the Ballou STAY painting first because it was more complex than the “Ballou Pride” painting and would take longer to complete. My process for both paintings was basically the same generally starting with the foreground figures and then working between foreground and background with a focus on completing the figures first. In Image#2 you can see the blue charcoal pencil lines of the transferred enlarged sketch. Image#3 is the completed acrylic underpainting. Image#4 is the alkyd overpainting progressing.
