Art in the Making - AFTER THE RICE HARVEST - Sri Lanka - July 17th 2017

This original oil painting 36"X 48" on Linen that I painted - was inspired by the struggles I see in Sri Lanka with the past year's severe drought in rice growing areas. This means farmers harvested only twice this year, not the usual three times. Farmers are generally poor, working their own family paddies to feed the family and often the extended family as well. They store enough for themselves until next harvest if they have a suitable bin, or they sell it to the rice wholesalers. Fields are worked by hand; only the more wealthy rice farmers have equipment.

This painting shows the family filling the sack to go to the wholesaler. The rice has been husked by hand, dried, often on a tarp by the side of the road, and is then shoveled into the sacks. This is a typical rice harvest scene in the rural villages.

MY PAINTING PROCESS

Stage 1

From a detailed sketch, I position the main elements - the figures, the road, the trees, and then transpose using graphite pencil in a loose drawing on my primed canvass. I struggle with making the figures too small for a focal area so I redo them several times to get the relationships correctly positioned.

Then first lay down the lightest lights of the afternoon sunlight streaming through the trees. Next, I block in the trees and the figures beginning to establish the values.

Stage 2

I begin adding in some ground color to the foreground and background and adjusting the trees for better perspective of the road disappearing to the backof the painting. I've used a lot of warm tones as it is very hot in the afternoons in Sri Lanka and I need to establish the notion of the high humidity throughout the work.

I tend to work all over the painting as the whim strikes me, laying in more color here and there as the foundation grows. Value and color development are achieved through applying multiple glazes of thin paint. Because of the heat, humidity, and that I work outside in Sri Lanka, I use a quick drying medium. I've tried it without, but find that the longer drying time means that overnight outside, many insects become trapped on the surface needing repair at the beginning of the next painting session. By painting in the early part of the day and using a quick dry medium, I can avoid this problem. (well mostly)

Stage 3

I have now spent considerable time looking at this work and trying to decide what was bothering me about the painting progress in Step 2.

The woman figure on the left was originally put in facing away from the group which I have decided separates her from the family. For continuity of the painting, I think it better for her to face the group so I have painted her out, redrawn, and put her in as more of a participant in the harvest process. I think this makes a stronger composition.

Typically Sri Lankan people visit and gossip when in groups together, particularly to make such tedious work as the more entertaining and make the time pass. The woman is now engaged in whatever conversation is going on.

I've also begun to dress the figures in what you would normally see for this type of work, sarongs for the men and skirts for the women. As the whole family is working, of course the baby comes along.

The wagon was blocked in more darkly than it will end up because they are usually weathered and old, so those effects will be added later.

Always thin glazes are my painting process, and all over the painting. This also ensures that there will not be any colour used, eg in a sarong, which is not somewhere else in the painting. This again brings continuity to the work.

Stage 4

A this stage I have decided there needs to be more of a context for the family working in the rice paddies for a long hot day so have added water jugs, a small cooking fire, some back packs in the foreground. These will be more defined and shadows added in the finishing stage.

I have also enhanced the misty quality of the background and have decided the time of day is early morning with the yellow hue to the light and the mist.

The figures have been more defined and shadow tones on skin and clothing added. The baby still needs work and I am struggling with what color might best suit the blanket. I expect the inspiration will come with time.

I like to leave my paintings in full view for some days between glazing layers, both to dry, and also for me to look repeatedly at it to get a sense of where to work on it next. I always have in mind the filter of "what needs to be added or deleted" and "what is good or not good about the composition" with a thought to improve it.

Next step will be to finish the Baby, complete foreground and as always, lighten the lights and darken the darks for better contrast. foreground work will focus on the ground in front, and on a few more detailed leaves on the periphery to give a depth to the view.

Final Stage

In this final step, I have added some foreground clumps of leaves caught in the sunlight, made a few more sky holes in the trees, enhanced the grasses in front, and finally added the red twine used to close the mouth of the rice bags. To tie the painting together I used the twine around the waist of the ladies skirt, and a few splashes in the foreground grasses.

And of course, the final lightening of the very light areas , darkening of the shadows and unevenness of the roadway, but lightening of the big foreground tree trunk on the right.

I wanted to convey that this is a hot day, hard, work, but done in the easy company of family and friends. It's the Sri Lankan way.