Back towards the end of may I received an email from a gentleman about asking me if I would be willing to donate a print, of the painting "Homeward Bound".  He wanted to donate it to a charity auction for a little boy of three, named Reiss Timothy with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).  After checking him out and making sure the charity auction was lagitamit.  I talk to my wife about it  Then after some pondering I decided that an original would be far more appropriate.  This is how this whole painting got started.
After some back and forth emails, Roger call me I told him I wasn't going to donate a print.  I waited just long enough to hear the disappointment in his voice.  That's when I told him, I'm going to donate an original.  Needless to say he was very excited about this.  Then I told him the rest.  After discussing this with my wife we agreed to not only donate the original but also for one year anyone who bought a print of the original painting.  I would donate 50% of the proceeds to the family too.  On the phone I could tell that this touched Roger deeply.

At first I was thinking of doing a painting a little larger then what I have been painting.  I've been doing paintings on board any where between 8x10 and 16x20.  I spent some time looking around my various art stores looking what they had in pre-gessoed boards but I wasn't happy with what I found.  So I started looking at canvas.  Finally I settled on a 18x24 canvas.  But when I brought it back to the studio it just didn't look all that impressive, even after i did the initial layout on it.  I did have these three canvas sitting in the corner of my studio but they were much bigger then I felt comfortable working on.  They were 30x40 inches.  But they just kept nagging at me to go for it.  So I did.  I took the 18x24 off my easel and made room for the much larger canvas and started over.

Pencil rough in.  Notice the Horizontal and Vertical Golden Mean

Pen and Ink stage

• Roughing in and Inking

Once I roughed in the drawing, by finding the various horizontal and vertical Golden Mean.  Then I laid in the Pen and Ink of the main subjects of the painting.  That being the Elk, Wolf, Grouse, dead trees and large rocks.  Everything else I roughed in with pencil.  Then I gave it three coats of workable fixative to protect the drawing part from the painting part.

Under painting with a bit of green added

• Under Painting

The next stage is the under painting.  This part is done very quickly.  First with a rag, I scrub in one color mixture over the whole canvas.  The color is a mixture of Burnt Seinna and Indian Yellow. Then using a clean bristle brush I get it wet in Mineral Spirits, that I use as a thinner, and remove the highlights of the painting.  Next I enhance my dark's by using Burnt Umber, then more so by using Ultra Marine Blue Deep. Then finishing the under painting with a thin layer of green where the grass will be to help set up the over all contrast of the painting.

Sky done and working on the Mountain

• Top Down Back to Front

After the under painting and when actually start painting I like to paint from the top of the canvas to the bottom and from the back to the front.  So here I started with the sky.  Which I just rough in with a very light color of blue and lots of white.  Keeping the blue color cool and letting the under painting color wear through over on the right hand side.  Next I paint in the clouds and once I'm through with fiddling with them I move onto the mountain.

Mountain is done and I'm working on the Trees and the Wolf

• Mid Ground

One important thing to remember is that the mountain is there to support and back up the Elk.  The Elk will be an Orange color so the Mountain needs to be a Blue color, because blue is the opossite of Orange on the color wheel.  Also the Elk will be warm and very Chromatic, so the Mountain needs to be cool and dull.  If I didn't do this with the mountain, none of the things I wanted the Elk to be would show up.  Also I need to know what areas of the Elk are going to be in direct sunlight and what areas in shadows.  So I adjust the Mountain accordingly so.  For example the Neck of the Elk is in full sunlight, so the Mountain just to the right needs to be dark.  But the belly of the Elk is both dark and in shadow so the mountain at that spot must be lighter.  Also the legs of the Elk will be darker so the mountain and then the trees need to be lighter.  But with the trees they need to be a little darker then the mountain to help create the illusion of disance and depth.  As the trees get closer they need to get darker and more green and less blue.  It is all a carefully coriegraphed dance of Hues, Tones, Chroma and color Tempratures.

Done and signed

• Fore Ground

Elk, Wolf and Grouse.  This is where it is all happening. This is where the narrative of the painting is created and presented to the viewer.  But remember, without the Mid Ground supporting, this part of the painting wouldn't be all that grand.  First i painted in the wolf then carefully wrapped the trees and the shadows around him.  So that we have an animal lurking in the shadows of both the trees and our imaginations.  To some (mostly non-ranchers) the Wolf is a misunderstood creature.  To others it is just a killer, a loathsome animal.  For this painting it is the unanswered question and the cause of contention.  Next I painted in the Elk.  For me personally the Elk represents what is noble, grand and good in life. Honesty, integrity and hard work.  It represents the good in all of us.  After painting in these two animals I turned my attention to the dead trees and then the grass.  The grass was the tricky bit.  I had to keep the shadowed parts cool and dull but not too flat.  Where as the bright warm sunlit area of the grass had to be just that, warm bright and sunny, but not so much as to take away from the Elk.  Next I painted in the various rocks.  Then I painted in the grouse.  For me the grouse represents home and mothers.  Protecting their young from the dangers of the world.  Once all these various elements were painted in I finished by adding a bit more color.  By adding in a few wildflowers.

Here is the finished scan

This is the Flyer for the Auction

This is how it all starts

Rough in Pencil stage

With every painting it all has to start somewhere.  But even before I get to the point of drawing on the canvas.  Many hours of work have already been invested in the painting.

 I've got to decide first on what I want to paint

    With this painting I knew it was going to be a Wildlife painting.  I've been wanting to paint another Elk too.  So I started thinking about Elk and their environments.  I watch videos on YouTube of Elk in the wild.  I also knew that this painting will be put up for Auction in Price Utah, so some place in Utah.  When I would talk to people about this painting, I would tell them about the Elk then I kept saying it will be in the Uintas somewhere.  So it is going to be an Elk in the Uintas.  Also after talking with a guy I work with at the Provo Temple.  I told Him I wanted some type of fury small animal hidden in the rocks up front in the lower right corner.  We tossed ideas around of various animals, weasel, ferret, wolverine, marmot, wood chuck and so on.  Then he came up with the idea of a wolf.  I suggested not up front being too large an animal there, but in the back ground, hidden in the trees.  So now I've got an Elk and a Wolf.  Having the Wolf will add a bit of tension and excitement to my painting's Narrative.  But I still need a small animal in front.  So after pondering about it, I came up with a Female Grouse and a nest of eggs.

Research Time

    Now that I know who, what and where it is time to do research into those areas. 

•  Knowledge about the subject: history, location, structure, anatomy and so on

        I started by doing more research on Elk, Wolves and Grouse.  Also I did research into the habitat of these various animals and the Uintas.

•  Plein Air

        I went out a couple of times to do some plein air paintings for this painting.  The first day I got chased away by a lightning storm ( I didn't want to get struck by lightning in the middle of an empty meadow).  Then on a second day I just couldn't find a place that had what I was needing.  So I'll just use some of my old plein air paintings as reference.

•  Reference photos, both on site and internet

        While out getting chased by lightning I took plenty of pictures.  Also I spent a few hours on Google doing image searches.  These I just use as rough references.  I don't copy any of them.

•  Early sketches

        Once I know roughly what I want, I start doing sketches to work out many of the problems of size and arrangement of the various elements of the painting.

The are sketches from an earlier post

Couple of oil studies of Elk with different painting techniques

• What size

    Well I knew I want to go bigger then what I usually go with, because this was going to help this sick little boy.  Bigger is better.  After spending time looking at canvas of various sizes I first decided on the standard size of 22 inches high by 28 inches wide.  But as I thought about it maybe bigger was better.  So now I'm going with 30 by 40 inches.

• What am I going to paint it on

    At first I wanted to painting this on a board.  Either canvas board or Hard board with 4 - 5 coats of Acrylic Gesso.  But I didn't have anything of the sizes I was looking to paint on laying around the studio.  So I went out to see what various art and craft stores in the area had in stock.  But no had what I was looking for in boards.  So I went with a canvas instead.  Plus a canvas at that size (30 x 40) will be much lighter.

• Time of day

    Evening, magic hour.  A time of warm light and cool long shadows.

• Direction of the lighting

    Right to left with the sun way off of the canvas to the right.

• What will be the narrative of the painting

    I'm still not completely sure of this.  But it is taking on a life of it's own as I place the various animals and elements in the painting.  For me personally the Elk represents a feeling of grandeur and noble strength.  The Wolf hiding in the shadows of the trees, darkness and ill intent.  The Mother Grouse sitting on her eggs, innocents and motherly protection.

• What over all feeling am I looking for

    I'm just going to see where this one takes me.

• What two main colors will be represented in the painting

    Yellow-Orange / Violet.

Meditation / letting all this information just sit and Stew

Hours spent just sitting and/or laying on my back thinking about and visualizing all the various elements of the painting.  This is the goal setting part of the painting.  If I don't know where I'm going how will I get there or know when I've arrived.

Once all this is done and I've rough the painting in I'm finally onto the next stage, Inking.