“Stillness” original art. The Painting Process Step By Step

I craved to express the Stillness. This is what came out when I quietened my mind. And I would like to use it to show you the painting process.

Stilness. Oil on 60x48 inches canvas.

Stillness is one of the few paintings that I have documented step by step. This is a great way to show you how a painting comes to life. I wish I had documented the progress of each of my paintings. The truth is that I get very often absorbed by the creative flow and lose the track of time. Thinking about taking pictures at every stage would interrupt the creative wave. Or maybe I'm just too lazy :) I could definitely improve a lot in this regard.

Step 1. As you can see, painting starts as a very abstract mix of two basic colors. I'm not even sure if I had the idea of painting a Buddha sitting in the snow at this point. Most probably not. I only had the concept of Stillness on my mind and in my heart, and I let the brush go very lose.

Step two- Buddha is here. Rough disproportionate sketch of it at least, but now I know that Buddha will be in the painting, in what size, and where. This is one of the most important things in any painting- DISPOSITION.

Step 3. As you can see, Buddha became more “human”. I will still do the final touches on him, but having him in real size and features helps me visualize what I am striving for, despite the fact that both the background and foreground is still very much undeveloped.
Another thing you might have noticed-I am slowly covering the warm orange color by colder blue. There is a reason behind that- in many places I will let the orange shine through (layering technique, for which oil colors are excellent choice), which will make the painting “warmer” where I want it to be, mostly in the foreground and around the Buddha, creating the illusion of depth. This is basis of atmospheric perspective which was invented by Leonardo Da Vinci. PERSPECTIVE is another key quality of art. It enables us to express 3D on a 2D surface.

Step 4. Starting to work on the trees. By now I know that Buddha will be sitting on a clearing in the snow covered forest. I know that one tree on the right will be the closest object to the “viewer” (foreground) and that I should put some detail on it (another object or just really detailed work on branches).

Final result. I never painted a large Buddha panting without an animal in it, and this painting is not an exception. Look well- there are four animals in this painting. Two foxes and two cardinal birds. I also added falling snowflakes and added more blue and white, which made the painting more “still”, through atmosphere of winter. I have to say, the falling snow is my favorite part, it brings both Peace and Movement.

Of course, the steps I describe were for demonstration purpose only, relating to the photographs I have taken along the way. In reality, the whole process is one flow of countless steps.

I like this panting a lot. It made me feel good every time I looked at it. And from what I hear from the gentleman who purchased it, it keeps on bringing peace to his house.

I hope you enjoyed this little journey in the world of art.

Thank you for reading,
Thank you for your upvotes and for following me.

May you find moments of stillness even in the most turbulent times,
Much Love,

Jan
@jankasparec