Stage 01 – Structural Blocking

Firstly, Cardnell’s unyielding discipline to his approach and pursuit of excellence in every work may not be better illustrated than the time he puts into thinking about each stage of a given work vs. actual work executed – his patience is limitless, as is evidenced in the narration to come. Cardnell may well sit before a canvas for hours on end, simply looking at the progress of the overall painting before he executes an hour’s worth of work. He has offered in a given day of painting there may be 6 hours of simple visual reflection upon the work for every hour or two of actual application of oil to canvas. With each new work he tries to do something he has not done before, tries to improve on his various techniques and is always pushing the limits of his abilities with each new subject. From the artist himself, “I would certainly create a far greater body of work if I spent less time thinking and more time painting, but that is not how I am designed. It’s the only method through which I can get to an end result with which I am happy and for which I feel the viewer will have the best experience with my work.” It is this deliberate refraining from execution and allowance of visual introspection that results in such magnificent paintings – Dive in to The Evolution of his Masterpiece to experience the splendor for yourself.

Cardnell: OK, so it begins.

Just mapped in the large areas and the relative size and position of the ‘principal pair’ – the guide and the angler. No positioning of the Bonefish yet though. Lots of work on these elements before I start to think about the ‘players’ in this drama.  I think the clouds are at their full extent because I believe we want a sunny day to give us crisp highlights underwater.

This Stage is essentially the ‘blocking in’ part of the process. If I have placed the ‘principal pair’ too far to the right, this is an easy fix at this Stage but I would say no more than a ‘boat width’ to the left as I would expect a cast on the angler’s rod to land in line with the middle of the far island. I want the nearest mangrove clump standing on a little exposed sand as well.  Probably thin the foliage out a little. Will show trunks as off-white. The water area just to the right of the nearest mangrove clump will be less disturbed so that’s where I will be placing the Bonefish.