Counting the strokes

[Allan Rahbek]

Originally Posted by Thomasin Dewhurst

Very, very nice painting, Allan. I really like the way you worked the painting so thoroughly and still kept your brushstrokes so fresh. Confident and courageous. How long did it take you and how many times did you redo things?

Thomasin,
thank you for your comments.

The painting was on and off the easel a coupple of weeks, but the actual painting time was about a day.

Most work and thoughts were spend on evaluating the value intervals and relations. I must have lightened and darkened the inner wall 3 - 4 times. I knew that the lightest light should be a slightly colored white and the niche only a little darker to make the great valuespan to the inner wall.
The bellringers coat is a dark green and the walls whitewash, almost black and white, seen in the dark they come very close in value.

The details such as the head, hands and coat were not hard to fill in once the values were decided.
The window and niche was made in one "sitting" beginning with the light outside the window, window frame, shadow and light in the niche. That way I could relate the values to each other while they vere still wet and keep them very close in a light value, reserving a great valuespan for the shadows inside the tower.
I used the painting knife for the light outside the window and brush for most of the rest.