Progress of my painting "The Gate"

in art •  7 years ago  (edited)

Yesterday I posted the details about my painting "The Gate" which you can see here:
https://steemit.com/art/@gric/the-gate-acrylics-on-board

I made four scans during the progress so I will show you how it has changed over time.

I struggled quite a lot with this piece. When I look back at the 4 stages I must say 2 is still my favorite. At stage 3 I realized that I was about to mess it up and things got complicated. It's always challenging when a painting is getting worse the more you keep working on it, and the best solution usually is to put it away for a while. Even though I do actually like the end result, I was not able to achieve the subtle atmosphere which I think it had in stage 2.

The inspiration for this painting came from an amazing photo of the Hang Sơn Đoòng Cave I found online. I wanted to see this scenery as an artificial structure, reconquered by nature, carved by erosion. The tornado was not planned, it was a spontaneous idea - without it something was missing.


Untitled-1.jpg


Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

The finished painting:


A slideshow of the progress can be seen here: http://gric.at/gallery/bild266_m.htm


Thanks for upvoting and commenting!

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

I have to disagree! For me, stage 4 is the best one. It has this duality which I like a lot, between the green vegetation and the beige rocky structures; fertile vs barren; life vs death. It's like an ancient city taken over by wild vegetation as nature claims it back!

In stage 2, it's just the single feeling of cold/winter, there is no complexity. In the final one, the whirlwind is distracting and simplifies the color palette.

Thank you @nyarlathotep!

i also like #4

I knew on your first post about The Gate that it was going to be amazing, and you did not disappoint. Great work, I love this.

Thank you!

The tornado was a nice twist 😂😂

Awesome stuff like always!

Thank you! :-)

Hammerarbeit - geniale Perspektive -
und die "Feinheiten" sind mal wieder Klasse... :-)
Resteemed

Danke!

The tornado adds tension to the scene, I also like how you included a figure in the last panel to the right. Just subtle things like that I admire in your work.

Thank you @talltim!

I really like your art! :-) Have you tried yourself illustrating science fiction books? Your works associates for me with Stanislaw Lem novels.

I did quite a few cover illustrations over the years, mostly for fantasy novels. But it's not really something I'm interested to do today.

I feel the same. If they can use something of mine, then yeah, I am open to sell copyright to a existing piece. But one never knows - if I am inspired by something I read ....... like if some publisher would ask me to illustrate Lovecraft, for example.

its really awesome,upvoted

Thank you!

Wow! So cool! A lot of details! I love it so much!

Thanks!

Epic art and process.

Thanks!

Hah... interesting that you decided to pivot away from the original idea at the end. I like the sky glow on the finished painting... but somehow wish you kept the trees growing out of the structures. Still brilliant work!