Blue Sky Collaboration-My Day 4

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

I'm probably done for now. I've added details to the newly-lightened bricks, sharpened some of the clouds in the sky.
Detail of the center of the painting is shown below. The painting doesn't feel quite finished, but I need to set it aside and think about what else it might need.

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

Blue Sky Collaboration-My Day 3

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

The scene is taking shape. I have to add the mortar between the bricks, details to the inside of the archway, and smooth the transition between the scene inside the arch and the sky below it.

Blue Sky Collaboration-My Day 2

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

I'm starting to paint in the brick wall and arch, but don't expect it to cover much more of the sky than it has on the left. I'm glad to have finally settled on a direction (see posts below). The archway view is something Lisa and I experienced together in Rome.

Blue Sky Collaboration-Four Possibilities

© Ellen Blonder

I don't know why it's so hard to figure out what to do with the Blue Sky Collaboration canvas (see multiple posts below), except that a blue sky invites possibilities. Upper left sketch is the view of a lone tree through an archway on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Upper right is a floating section of foothills (following the influence of yesterday's post). Lower left is an elegant double door, entry to a house in Rome. Lower right is the barn from my childhood. The double doors are too staid and blocklike, and the barn reminds me of The Wizard of Oz. I like the foothills, but I'm going to try the archway.

Blue Sky Collaboration-My Day 1

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

I finally decided to stop worrying and just throw some paint on Lisa's canvas (see explanation in August 27 post) . It feels very strange to add to someone else's artwork, even my own daughter's, and to change her original intent. Beyond trying to match colors and mood, I realized we have very different hands in applying paint. I did feel like I had to cover the white canvas before I could think further about what else to add. I'm debating on whether to carry on with Lisa's Magritte influence somehow.

Blue Sky Collaboration-Rejected Idea

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

I had thought Lisa's sky (see August 27, 2009, post) would be the perfect background for a painting of the barn behind the house where I grew up. With flat farmland all around, the sky was always very big, and often dramatic.
Part of the allure of Photoshop is that one can make quick "sketches" to see if an idea will work. I dropped in a photo of the barn and added some quick color details and cloned clouds. It's not interesting enough for me. I'll have to think of something else.

Blue Sky Collaboration

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

My daughter Lisa started this 30 x 30-inch canvas, inspired by Rene Magritte's "An Empire of Light." She's moving to Toronto tomorrow, and isn't taking the canvas with her. We're turning this into a collaborative project. I won't take her up on such a difficult challenge as copying a Magritte, but I do love her sky so far, and will see what I can add.
We used to do collaborative drawings when Lisa was young, with each of us adding a few lines to a drawing each time we passed it back and forth. This will be a grown-up version.
By the way, Lisa's blog with her current work is at blonderland.blogspot.com.