Dinner in Town

On By jonathankeeton

My wife Melinda Tidwell and I went to an opening with some of my work in Tulsa and stopped for dinner in Clayton, NM. The next table was some ranch hands on their night off, and it seemed such an arresting image to me that I decided to make a painting of it.

I started out this one with a sketch over a light ochre ground using felt markers to indicate what was what.
Next I applied a thin glaze of paint of a mix of burnt umber and ochre over all, then started putting in something closer to the shadow value here and there.
This looks kind of terrible, but it helps to roughly lay out something close to the paneling and the doors and the floor.
More work touching everything with a first pass to see how things are coming together. Each time I lay in a first pass it gives me an idea of what I’m in for…

Closer, but still a long ways to go. Everything will be painted at least twice again before it’s finished.

Here’s the final painting. The figures were worked on a ton, and the walls, as well as the chairs, foreground and floor were darkened and clarified.

4 thoughts on “Dinner in Town”

  2. Kim's avatar Kim

    The presence of cowfolk at the next table is enough to spark my interest – another world but of today. Your rendering of that is even more of a spark! I ask myself (even though you explain the steps), “how does he DO that?” Great work Jon.

    Were you both there so recently, visiting your old homestead? Or is this from a time before you moved across the ocean?

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