“One Nation Under God”

I love painting over old canvases when they’re not too lumpy.

After sketching in the forms and blocking in the painting, the painting seemed to sail. They don’t always “paint themselves”. A lot of my work takes months to do.

Sketching over an old canvas and blocking in the positions of the people.

The owner of a gallery I used to show in asked me to not be so specific in my work. I didn’t know then what that meant, but here it shows all the people and not one is recognizable. The idea, not necessarily the detail, is stronger.

This painting is a special part of the prayer in my heart for our America… the people’s heart, the people’s country, the people’s recognition of our reliance upon God for any good thing.

Almost done, then finishing. I might have left some of the definition alone, but I just had to go in there and define some of the figures more. A very good adjustment was eliminating the repetition of parallel forms by adding sleeves to one man, and muting the light on the arm of the man in the doorway, thus setting him further back.

The color varies at times of day and lighting, so I went out to the northside just before full sunrise and took this photo for northlight color:

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