GINO'S NEW BIKE

(Click image to see enlarged view)

This painting is from a photograph by Gino Zahnd, a cyclist and blogger from Chico. I knew I wanted to paint this as soon as I saw the photo. The composition is striking with the angle of the bike, the grass, the sky, the shadows and, of course, the amazing bike bag.

I started by masking off the bike, bag and fence post. I then put on a yellowish wash over the entire area below the horizon. I went back in while the paper was still a bit wet and added the horizon trees, the grass in the background and then the foreground grass.

I tipped the painting on it's side and soaked the sky with water. I mixed several colors of blue and gray and let them just run down the paper. This is one of the better skies I've done in the two years I've been painting mostly because I did it quickly and left it alone.

Next I took off all the masking and started working on the bag. I did several layers of olive green and brown until I had the right colors and shadows. I mixed a bright blue for the bike and tried to stay true to the bike's components although I did take some artistic license by simplifying a few things.

Finally I painted the post and added the barbed wire. At first I wasn't sure I liked the addition of the barbed wire, but now think it adds a lot to the painting's composition by framing the bike.

Of the over 100 paintings I've done, this is one of my favorites!