Class Demo - The Marsh

 

The Marsh

 

Now that my Open Studio has resumed, I have also resumed doing a demonstration painting.  This one is a scene of the marsh in the early light.

 

The first step was to paint the sky.  I used a lavender blue fading to a pale yellow to capture the silky light of the dawn.  I also used a richer Indian yellow in the water; although stronger the sky color it still reads reflected light which is what I was after.  In demos I sometimes exaggerate the colors to illustrate how to use one's artistic license to capture mood as well as the actual scene.

 

The distant trees have bushes in front of them.  I painted them a brighter green since the morning haze was giving them a glow that I wanted to capture.

 

I made the grassy areas in the foreground much redder than in real life, again to grab the sunlight and to bring them forward into the picture plane.

 

The tree has amber tones which reflects the nature of the light of that morning.  A few birds in the sky add life to a painting.  There is also a gator in the grasses that adds the true nature of the marsh and mixes well with the quiet calm of the morning.

 

This painting is a good example of using artistic license to exaggerate the colors of nature to capture the mood of the scene.  Don't be afraid to push your colors.