From first to finish...
... a portrait of the Superstition Mountains

Over the Memorial Day weekend of 1994, Dan and Elaine May, owners of the May Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, escorted several artists out to the Tonto National Forest for a day of hiking, sketching and photographing the Superstition Mountains. As a result of that pleasant excursion, Barron (here shown in his studio) starts to arrange the gathered materials from the trip and layout format for a painting intended to recapture the stark beauty and drama of the Superstitions. At this point, while working in a series of small sketches, the basic composition is decided on. Details of brush, catus, rocks, and all sorts of ground cover photographed during the hike are faithfully incorporated into the work to provide the realism and flavor that a Postmus painting in becoming known for.

Next, the canvas is selected and alternately sanded and gessoed to the artist's satisfaction. Then, the initial line drawing is made carefully using a combinatin of extra-soft pencil, felt-tip markers and rapidograph pens.

Broad shadow areas and the sky are brushed in with turpentine-thinned Payne's Gray oil with special emphasis being given to the dark sides of the clouds. Final light direction and perspective problems are solved at this stage.

Now the undercoating is done by loosley applying paint in large strokes to set the color tone as a basis for final detailing. This procedure results in a darker cast as working dark to light is typically the preferred method in this type of landscape oil. Ochres, umbers and deep greens provide the depth and shadows for the foreground burst. The sky is completed at this time in order to provide the dramatic backdrop and emotion that the artist hopes to convey in the finished piece.

In this last stage, the final overcoating and detailing are being done. Even now, changes can be made to emphasize or redirect light as desire for effect due to the wonderful properties of the oil paint. White highlighting is applied again to the sky for a final sparkle against the darker mountans. Extra contrast is painted into the foreground to increase the aerial perspective and depth. The saguaro cactus and hawk are carefully completed to give a size relationship and scale to the surrounding brush. This is the most enjoyable part of painting as loosely defined dark shapes are changed into the bright images remembered by the artist as he experienced the impact of the amazing Superstition Mountians.

(Click on the painting to view a larger image.)