Dusty Youngblood

Process photos

A couple weeks ago I posted some photos of a painting in process. I have finished it now, and I am posting the photos from this process here also. I titled it “Las Palapas”. This image of the large wave was inspired by many photos I have seen of Puerto Escondido. Not so much for the tropical imagery or bright sunset color i used, but for the massive scale of the wave. Over the years, many surf magazines have run photos of the “Mexican Pipeline”, and often they contain three palapas and a barreling wave that appears way to large for the scene. This scaling may just be a result for the photography method, but no matter, It leaves an inspiring image in my head.

1. I sketched out an idea in light pencil, then I blocked in some shapes with 3 colors of highlighter. The high lighter was a new step for me, and it’s an innovation I will continue to use. Don’t be afraid to experiment!!!!

2. I moved right into filling in the lip of the wave in white. Then blocked in the darker wave face colors and created some blends between colors. I am painting on a material called “clayboard”.

3. I added the lighter color blue in the forground, blending blending. Then also adding the sunset orange colors to the sky.

4. This is a detail shot of the lighter blue water. This gives you an idea about how much blending is involved to get the textured ocean look I was after.

5. Now added the majority of base colors and blends. From here I move on to hours of stippling to create texture and depth.

The last steps are the most fun! Black outlines all around. Being careful to use 3 line weights or more. Then adding white and yellow highlight lines as needed. I also ended up adding the 3 leaves in the front to balance the work a little better. This was not part of the plan, but I was happy it turned out. This will be on display at Syrens in San Clemente on April 3rd as part of a group show.