Ben Mahmoud:
The Evolution of a Painting

The premise of this page is to
follow the steps in the making
of a painting. From time to time
I will add images of a painting
in progress, showing all of the
steps from the beginning to the
completion. The painting structure
(birch plywood) was constructed
beginning on July 2nd, 1999.

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 These are the sketches with which I began.

 The painting begins with the construction of a panel or panels. In this case, the work is to be done on a single panel measuring 41" high by 16.5" wide. The panel is made of birch plywood. The back supports are made of poplar and pine. The view below shows the panel face down. The supports have been added, and a small "window" has been cut in the panel. This will hold a glass pane and several objects.

 

 Here is a close up of the rear/bottom of the panel. The objects that will be in the "window" are also visible. These objects are a rattlesnake head that has been cut in half (with each half facing the other) and two pieces of dried apple peel. This panel with the snake heads will be set into the larger panel.

 

 
 Here is a detail of the snake heads.

 Here is the panel on my easel with a textured tone appled and the drawing (in water based pencil) completed.

 

 Here is a close up of the drawing.  

 After making the planned drawing, it was felt that an element had to be added at the top. This was done, and the drawing can be seen at the right.

 

 

 

The drawing was done from photographs. The photographs are shown here. The one to the left was done on 35 mm b/w film and printing at 8" x 10". The one below was done with a digital camera and printed out at 1200 dpi on a b/w laser printer.

 

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