This piece is a play on words, something I often enjoy messing with in my work. Cultivate: 1. to prepare and work on (land) in order to raise crops; till. 2. to produce by culture: to cultivate a strain of bacteria. 3. to devote oneself to (an art, science, etc.). This painting is 24"x28".
Rough sketch on canvas. Inspired by our warty pumpkin from last Halloween.
I knew I wanted cells in the background as a pattern.
The figure in the painting is my nephew, Noah.
Developing the tree inside the jar.
Adding leaves, etc. Something is NOT right, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
Started playing around with the cells. I am very intrigued by reverse painting.
Defining more elements, but...
I finally realize that the figure is crazy huge for those tiny legs. Redue!
The new figure is better proportioned, but I had really wanted him to take up more of the interior of the jar.
I decide to reduce the jar height.
I go back over the cells with various metallic glazes and begin repainting with a matt titan white paint.
The cell are better! Still need a lot of work, but the basics are there.
Detail of the cells in progress. You can see the color in the dots better. They remind me of one of my favorite candies as a child, Brach's Jelly Nougats.
Starting to build the volume on the cells, adding some dark shadows and going back into the whites. Bringing white to the stones.
Working on tree and pumpkins, but the piece feels crowded and it is difficult to tell what is going on.
I decide to take out one of the pumpkins so there is more space, which creates better rhythm along the base.
The tree was terrible. Those leaves were getting sucked into the background, so I decide to build the background up a bit to make it less visually chaotic when I bring the tree back.
Going with more of a cyprus/pine type tree, which will be shriveled outside the jar. The top was definitely lacking, and I am thinking this will help.
New face! Still needs a little tweaking, but basically looks like Noah, so I am pleased.
Added plant on left to break up the blue of the pumpkin. Making the tree into a puffy evergreen type thing.
Building up the color on the plants and animals.
Tweaking the shape of the branches that extend out of the jar.
Detail of the boy.
Detail of the sky.
Detail of the rocks.
The final painting.