In my previous blog post, I talked about how to reuse an old unwanted oil painting. In part 2, I will show you the results of the oil painting cover up. Read on to see this oil painting go from eh, to much better!
Let’s recap what I’ve done. I took three old oil paintings that I no longer liked or wanted and sanded them down. Sanding them took off the raised paint as well as thinning the existing paint. I finished them with a coat of titanium white, burnt sienna, and ultramarine blue.
I decided to paint another scene from North Cascades National Park over the existing one. However, before I dive into covering up this painting, I first want to explain why I painted it in the first place. Below is the original painting titled “Fresh Air’, completed July 2022.
It was Labor Day weekend 2018 and my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I flew to Bellingham, Washington to visit North Cascades National Park. As soon as the plane touched down from Las Vegas, I knew I was sick. I had a tickle in my throat and my ears burned. The hotel we stayed in was so nice and even had a bar in the lobby, but all I wanted to do was sleep. The next day, I felt a bit better and we explored the park. We saw the breathtaking teal water of Diablo Lake and did a hike.
The next day we decided on a whim to head over to Vancouver, since we were so close to Canada, might as well! Later that day we went to get some incredible views of Mt. Baker. We drove along the 542 to a place called Artist Point. At this point in the trip my illness had worsen. I felt horrible. I ambled around the cold parking lot in my fever like state while my husband went off to climb something. That was when I discovered the spot of the video below, and later the inspiration behind “Fresh Air”.
There were little trails that lead off the parking lot and into the woods. I heard the sound of a trickling stream and tried to follow it. It was then I caught a glimpse of the awesome Mt. Baker in the distance, still covered in white even though summer had just ended. I stood there for a moment; hearing only the sound of a small stream somewhere, seeing the glorious mountains in the distance and purple flowers all around me, breathing in fresh cool mountain air.
Although I arrived at this spot feeling quite ill, suddenly was feeling much better. I stood there several minutes taking it all in. There were a few other spots I trekked to before heading back to the parking lot. I met up with my husband who excitedly told me about the hill he climbed up and I excitedly told him about my miraculous recovery.
When I painted “Fresh Air” I wanted to capture the memory of that moment. The painting turned out OK. It was too light so I ended up darkening the trees, but it was still missing something. The colors didn’t seem right. After having this painting around for several months, I decided I wanted to completely re-do it.
I stripped the paint off as best I could and covered it in a neutral base. I looked back through my photos to see if there was something else I could find. There were a few other videos I took in that spot and the one below sparked my creativity:
There was so much in this video and I wanted to capture it all: the vastness of snow covered Mt. Baker, the distant mountains, the slope I was standing on and the sunset. I had to adjust my sketch to include it all. Overall, I am happy with the final (final) painting and I’m glad the cover up process worked so well! Funny how my final painting was inspired by that wonderful day at Artist Point!
