The Name of Fountain Inn Illustrated

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Art Information Updated on :
July 27, 2008 3:34 PM

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Artist Contact Information

Lloyd Thibodeau
1901 Country Apple Court
Fountain Inn, SC 29644
mail@draw-n-paint.com

Artist Oil Painting "Fountain Inn" History and Facts Another studio oil painting sitting and I have added some background trees. I've painted the trees in a light hue using the same colors that where used in painting the sky.
Pencil Rough Sketch and Drawing Composition Using a smaller sketch book I drew a rough draft of what will be the oil paintings composition that I have in mind. After some time of pencil drawing and erasing I am happy with the placement of the elements that will make up this oil painting. I like this art composition because of where the placement of the evening sunlight will be. Warm colors of sunlight rays will brighten the foliage and the Inn. Westerly sunlight will also create many different interesting light patterns shining on the stage coach trail. The water from the fountain area has an opportunity for many reflective sparkling effects. The challenge is balancing all of these elements in the painting to a main focal point in whole painting.

The Oil Painting The oil painting artist canvas size for this painting is twenty four inches high by thirty inches wide. The artist canvas is a Fredrix medium textured cotton duck that is acrylic-titanium primed suitable for artist oil paints. Even though I use primed a canvas I like to brush on a layer of white paint that has been thin out. I feel it gives the artist canvas material more strength and makes the canvas all the more ready for the oil paints. Using a Berol Turquoise Number H pencil I transferred the rough sketch to the artist canvas in a little more defined drawing manner. The canvas was divide in half and a straight line drawn across the center to be able to get an idea of where to place the horizon. By doing this the Inn can be adjusted either higher or lower on the canvas to my liking. My approach for this painting is to work by brushing the top sky area first and then apply paints and working down to the bottom foreground area of the canvas. Two painting principles are put into place by brushing in colors this way. First is the color of the sky area dictates the reflective colors in the other part of the painting such as the water on top of rocks in fountain. Second is the ability to work from the background being able to paint lighter hue areas. This helps to create an atmosphere giving the appearance of distance which can visually pull a viewer into the painting. The oil paint colors used to start this painting where Alizarin Crimson, Viridian, Indian Yellow, Cobalt Blue and Thalo Blue. A dark gray blending mixture was made by adding equal parts of Alizarin Crimson and Viridian. Test the gray by adding a small amount to a little white paint to see the true color of the mixture. If it appears too red in color then add a little Viridian to the mixture until it meets your liking. The reverse is true if the mixture appears to be too greenish, then you would want to add a small amount of Alizarin Crimson to the mixture. Painting the Sky
For an Artist Rendering Sunlight Direction is Important By placing a compass on the remaining top portion of the chimney surface we can get, not an exact, but a general sense of which direction the Inn was facing. According to the compass the front was facing in a south east direction at about 150 degrees. Ok, why is knowing the direction the front of the Inn was facing important to know? All oil paintings have light or else they would be totally black. To make the oil painting of Fountain Inn realistic we need to artistically consider each of the facts about the structure that are available. Then after consideration a decision is made to paint those historical facts in or not. I don't know why the settlers built the Inn in that direction but this is a guess. There are two reasons that come to mind for building the Inn in this way that I can thing of. The first is the Cherokee Indian trail ran in a direction that made the Inns' construction to be built parallel with it. The stage coach trails used these same indian trails for travelers. Also it's an interesting thought to consider for that time period. Your out in the wilderness on your own with no piped in propane like as in civilization today. In the winter months which way would you like to have the windows in your house facing for cold days to capture sunlight for warming the house? I would have built to have the windows face in a direction for maximum sunlight exposure. From an early image (1) the chimney was located on the easterly side of the building. A question that arises is that there appears to be not one but two chimneys in the image. So which of the chimneys are the mound of stones from? Are they from the first chimney or the second chimney? Without more established material to go on I will venture that the pile of bricks and stone is the first chimney because of the size of the mound. This brings up another dilemma in the area of the chimney needing consideration before doing the oil painting. Where did the bricks come from around the chimneys base? I have to assume these where added in a renovation project some time in later years and the bricks will need to be eliminated from the oil painting. So where does an artist get an clue as to the type of stones to paint for the chimneys structure. This also includes the stones around the porch area and the Inns footings supporting the building. Happily there is a persevered remnant of those stones to use for art reference.
References : (1) "History of Fountain Inn" Fountain Inn, South Carolina - 975.72 Coleman, Compiled by Mrs. Caroline S. Coleman and Mr. B. C. Givens.

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From March 22, 2007 =

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