Storm Over Kolob Finds Home in New Public Safety Building

Storm Over Kolob- 40" x 30" oil by Greg Newbold

I am pleased to announce that my painting "Storm Over Kolob" has been purchased for permanent display in the new Salt Lake City Public Safety Building. If you want to see it, they are holding public tours of new building through this weekend at 475 South 300 East in Salt Lake City, Utah. The painting is on display on the first floor just outside the main elevator bank. Because it is in a secured location, viewers will have to settle for a view from a few feet away, but I am assured it is visible and in a prominent place. I think the painting holds up well from a distance but I suspect employees will get the real pleasure from seeing it close up also. I am pleased to have another of my recent paintings find it's way into a permanent public collection on the heels of  the Springville Museum of Art's recent acquisition of "Beckoning the Peace of Wild Things". 

I also just delivered a couple of new paintings to my gallery Williams Fine Art in their new gallery space. Have a look at what is being offered if you missed out on this one. 

Storm Over Kolob- Bridging the Gap

Storm Over Kolob- 30" x 40" ; oil on canvas by Greg Newbold

One of the risks you run as an artist is knowing when to call something done. I have been painting hard on this first large canvas for about a week now and I think it is about finished. At the same time, when working on a picture like this, I find that the gap between my artistic intent and what actually made it to canvas is larger than what I wanted. I know that at some point, I just have to quit and call it done, but I am still making mental gyrations to figure out if there is something I could have done differently or that I could still do to close the gap between my vision and reality. I guess in many ways, this is a good thing. At least I know I fell a bit short. Too often when I teach, I see students that not only don't realize what is wrong with a piece, but they don't even see the gap. They don't see the problems or what would make it better. Over time, some figure it out but some never do. The rest of us keep striving to close the gap, to make what we envision in our minds become real on the canvas. Have any of you felt this same way? What do you do to bridge the gap? 

Storm Over Kolob - Progress

Storm Over Kolob - Work In Progress; Oil by Greg Newbold; 30" x 40"

I now have the entire canvas blocked in. Even though the entire canvas is covered, some areas feel much closer to finish than others so I still have a lot of work to do. Now comes the process of laying in a second pass or "skin" as some artists call it. I will concentrate on adjusting values where needed by pushing things darker or bringing up the highlights. I will also focus on adjusting hue and saturation. In areas where colors are a bit intense, I will neutralize things. I also want to make sure the temperature shift from the warm sunset light to the cool shadows is consistent. Right now I think some areas are still a bit too warm or too cool. Concentrating on having a nice consistent surface with texture where it should be and interesting brushstrokes will also be in the working mix. Should be fun finishing this up.

Previous progress on Storm Over Kolob