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.



Wrap Up The Year

Yes, it is only the 1st of December, but I am in a mood to start tying up loose ends.

I have not posted anything on this blog recently - my life has taken a turn.  Since the beginning of July I have been in Florida helping my Aunt.  She is my Dad's little sister and my godmother and a good friend all of my life.  She lost her husband of over 51 years and has some heath issues of her own.  I have been staying with her, helping with all of the paperwork, doctors visits etc.  My energy is spent with all of that.  Things have stabilized enough that I feel that I can start putting some effort into my own work.

I have been sketching.  Exploring ideas for a book to write.  Planning to finally getting around to updating my website. 

I need to get photos and create a post showing my latest 4 painting that I did in the Spring.  They each can stand alone, be two diptych or what I like most is that they can hang 4 in a rectangle and create one large quad-tych.  Each is 3' x 2' and when hung like that the image is 6' x 4'.  I created it to be hung as part of a show called Big Art which was displayed at the Richardson Gallery at the Horry Georgetown Tech College at the Conway campus.  I really like how it turned out (and how easy it was to transport this way)

I hope the Holidays are wonderful for everyone.  My resolution for the New Year is to get back to posting on a regular basis.  I might just be able to keep that one :)

Color Pencil on Dura-lar

On 4/21/12 the WACG held a color pencil workshop with Kate Lagaly showing us how to create images in color pencil on dura-lar (acetate with both side having a matt finish).  Using Prisma-color pencils.

Once you have your image to work with.  It helps to have both the photo or sketch  and a mirror image of it.

• mark the dura-lar so one side is the side for the 'black & white' image and one side is the side for the color -  very important!
• on the color side - outline your image enough to place the image on the sheet and to give yourself a guide to different value areas.  Not a detailed drawing.  I found if I did this sketch in a color, such as blue, it was easier to see later on.
• on the b&w side - using black, white and grays do a detailed drawing of the image capturing the values.  You are creating a grissiale drawing.  If you prefer not to do it in grays, you can always use any color you want that will give you a good monotone value drawing.  (I found putting in the whites first helped save the light areas, since putting them in last was burnishing the pencil)  Working on the slick paper is very different from color pencil on regular paper, so you may want to go with a very light touch first.  You will want to work on a solid board or sheet of paper; it can be white although most of us liked something with color such as a manila folder or sheet of construction paper.
• on the color side - erase the line drawing you did earlier.
• on the color side - begin to add color to your image.  Keep in mind that it is a little like painting on glass - the colors you put on first will show up the most on the opposite side.  The value image you created first will save the values for you on this side.  You can flip the sheet often to see how it looks. You can always add more values to the b&w side and/or more colors to the side with color.  Try not to mix them up!  Very easy to do.
• Decide which side is your finished side - either one is right, just choose which side you like the most.
• When you go to frame the image, you can back it with either a plain white sheet of matt board, or a sheet of color paper or a painted background or whatever you want.  It is easy to try out different backgrounds or even plan out a related image to put behind it.  As most color pencil images they are best framed matted and under glass or plexi.

Although we did not get to finish our images, everyone was making very good progress and learning a lot.  This new technique offers many benefits: getting good values in your drawing, experimenting with colors without loosing your values and offering many looks by changing the background it is placed upon.

Thanks Kate for a wonderful workshop!

My monotone sketch with the mirror images of the frog.

The first is the side I added color to, then flipped it so you can see the b&w side.  I placed it over a blue/yellow beach wash paper and then placed it over a red paper.
The sky is the limit.  enjoy!

the BIG picture Part 2

Now that the 'priming' is dry, it is time to layout the design.  I used my living room floor to lay the four canvases out as one large painting.
I do not transfer the entire image.  I wanted to get the strong lines in, so I used blue painter's tape -easier for a large image.  I used blue chalk to mark the location of a few major objects.
I put in just what I need to save some lights and establish how the four individual canvases will relate to each other.
Next step is to begin laying in some background.  I will do some if that with the canvases on the floor, to make the transition appear seamless.  But once that is in I will work on one canvas at a time for convenience.  I can always put them back down on the floor to make any judgements I may need to make to be sure they continue to play well together.
Time to bring out more paint!

the BIG picture Part 1

I have begun a new project.  Millie Doud is putting together at the Richardson Gallery:  the big picture, the summer show at the Richardson Gallery on the Conway campus of Horry-Georgetown Technical College.  She asked me a while ago if I would like to participate and I just love painting large.  I enjoy doing murals and large canvases.  Most shows I enter have size limits so I do not get to do non-mural large works too often.  I went through many ideas and concepts and tried to come up with a way that will let me create a BIG picture that will fit in my studio, fit in my car and fit in the gallery.  I will document the process and hope you enjoy the ride.


For size and convenience I decided to make my entry out of four 36x24 canvases which will hang in a rectangle giving the final size 72 x 48 - that's big.  The individual canvases will be a size I can work with and transport in my car.  I want them to hang together but at the same time they can also be treated as individual pieces.


I swoon when I walk through tropical gardens.  Visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Florida gives me a chance to do so on a regular basis.  I have tons of photos I have taken especially at the American Orchid Society gardens (although they are now moving closer to Miami).   So I dug through my photos and came up with some of my favorites and put together a scene of a tropical garden.  It took many sketches and concepts to come up with a plan that unites the 4 canvases but will allow each to stand alone.


I ordered the canvases and today I put a base coat of yellow on each.  I like to use a base coat to unite all four.  It will give a good base to the canvas and I chose yellow to give a glow of sunlight behind the images.  Not much will show through, but if I do leave a gap in the paint, yellow will appear and not the white of the canvas.  I like to do a base of yellow on all of my landscapes just for that reason.


Once they dry,  I will use chalk and blue tape to lay out the image.  Then I will put in a background.  Once that's done I can work on one canvas at a time.

Collage - The Art of Making an Image From Other Objects

Images from Google Images

The Sept meeting of WACG will have a chance for everyone to give collage a try. Supplies will be provided. I did a short write up I did that I will hand out at the meeting. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Saturday, Sept 17 at 10:15 at the B&C Art Museum in Myrtle Beach (near Springmaid Beach Resort & Pier) Bring your creativity and enthusiasm and give collage a try.

There will also be a special election for a new president. I have taken the position of Show Director for the Guild and cannot hold both jobs.

Collage - The Art of Making an image from other objects.

Collages became popular in the 60’s as a montage of relatedimages used to tell a story or capture an event or emotion. Now days they can still be used that same waybut are also used to create either detailed images or abstract images.

The objects can be just about anything: paper, fabric,buttons, coins, metals, plastics, found objects, made objects… It can be a single medium such as all paperor a mix of many types of objects.

The objects can be flat, such as paper or fabric; or 3-Dsuch as metals, bottle caps, pom-poms, beads, strings, yarn… The final image can be relatively flat like apainting, or very dimensional as a sculpture. You can create a collage on a table top, or a headboard or a plate – theonly limit is your imagination and creativity. Pieces can be torn or cut to size – a way to use parts of unfinished andunwanted paintings. Get out hidden gemsfrom your junk drawer.

You can add paints or mediums or glitter or sand or sticksor just about anything else to a collage or to the objects or to its base as well.

The base can be anything: paper, wood, metal,cardboard… It helps if the base isstrong enough to hold the objects and can be framed or displayed in somemanner. How you attach the objects tothe base depends upon the materials involved. Matt medium is a popular choice for paper, fabric and small objects. You can use glue or hot glue or anappropriate adhesive. Metals can bewelded. Fabric can be sewn. The attachment can be hidden or can be partof the design.

However you choose the objects, the base and the manner ofattachment, remember that the principles of design and composition stillapply. Even abstract images require somestructure. An instrumental song still has structure even though it does nothave words, the same goes for an abstract image – it should follow thestructure of composition and design as well as any representational image.

Collage gives you many freedoms to use in its creation. If you have haven’t played with it for awhile, start small and work up from there – the sky is the limit.

Artist Jackie Stacharowski 2011

Sample Collage Project

The WACG will have a mini-workshop Sat 9/17 at 10:15 am at the B&C Art Museum.  We will be exploring Collage.  So I did a sample project.  I used a round of cardboard just because I had one.  I used papers we had made at other meeting workshops from the sand-painting and shaving cream painting projects. 

I sketched out the black eyed Susan to make sure I liked how it was arranged on the board.  Then I cut up some bluish gray papers and used acrylic matt medium to glue it on with.  Since the cardboard had the usual ugly edges, I wrapped the papers over the edge and glued them on the back to make a nice looking side

I then used my yellows and oranges and pinks to put in the petals.  I tried to keep track of the values I was using to give some dimension to the image.

I then used some browns to make the center and added a highlight. 

I found smaller pieces were easier to play with than larger ones, but I did not get too small.  I like the look of the piecing.

I have not yet done it, but I plan on putting a couple of coats of the matt medium over the whole image to seal it and give it a even sheen.

The color paper I used was 90lb watercolor paper.  But you can use anything:  papers you created, ones purchased, torn out of magazines...  It does not have to be just paper, you can use string, metals, glass, beads, sand etc.

I did a general write up to distribute at the meeting.  I will post of copy of that too.

Artist Jackie

WACG Members Judged Show Application

The application to the WACG Members Judged Show has gone out. See below.

Two new categories have been added - New Artist for those just beginning to create art, creating for less than 3 years; Students - those 18-25 enrolled in an accredited institution. Prizes will be awarded in those categories as well. Anyone who is a member in good standing can enter the show. There is a membership application on our web site and on the newsletters if anyone wants to join.

Entries due Oct 14. (can be postmarked no later than that) Jackie is now the show director, no more last minute hand deliveries, sorry.

Drop off art on Wed Nov 2nd 9am - 12 noon

Reception is Thurs Nov 3 - 5:30 to 7:30 pm

Pick up art Tuesday Nov 8 3pm to 5 pm

Springmaid Beach Resort Exhibit hall - ground floor of their conference center.

Reminder - Saturday, Sept 3 Books a Million will donate a portion of their sales to WACG when a customer says they support WACG. A good time to get a new book and support the arts. Not too early to start getting presents for the holidays! All three Grand Strand locations are participating. An easy way to support our Guild.

Waccamaw Arts & Crafts Guild Annual Members’ Judged Show

Entry Rules and Requirements

Keep this page for reference;

return Entry Form on page 2 only!

Eligibility: Open to all artists and crafts persons who are members in good standing of the Waccamaw Arts & Crafts Guild. Each entry must have been created in the past 2 years, must be original and never shown before in a WACG

Judged or Juried exhibit. You may enter up to two pieces. No slides or photographs are required to enter. Work created in a class setting or with the help of an instructor is not eligible. It is advisable to have written permission (Model Release) to use the recognizable likeness of any person; however, this is the sole responsibility of each artist.

Categories: Awards will be presented in Professional, Non Professional, Student and New Artist categories. For the purposes of

entering this show, you are a PROFESSIONAL ARTIST if you have earned a reportable annual income of $600 or more, including sales, awards, teaching or any other art related income within the past 5 years

New Artists are those who have begun creating in the past 2 years.

Students are those 18-25 years old enrolled in an accredited institution.

If not indicated on the entry form, you will be entered as a Professional.

Medium: Oil, watercolors, pastel, pen and ink, acrylic, collage, pencil, charcoal, batik, mixed media, photography, fabric and/or textiles, sculpture and original computer art.

Size Limits (Two Dimensional): FRAMED size must be no larger than 36 inches in width or length. Any work exceeding these limits will not be hung.

Size Limits (Three Dimensional): No larger than 36” in width or depth X 60” in height. May not exceed 100 lbs per sq. foot.

Entry Fee: $25.00 for up to two pieces.

Make checks payable to WACG and indicate on front of check that it is for the Judged Show Entry Fee. WACG will charge a 30% commission on all sales. WACG will not collect sales taxes on work sold during the show. Each artist is responsible for all taxes and should consider this in pricing your work.

Hanging Preparations: All work to be hung must be framed in a professional manner and securely wired for hanging. No clip mountings will be accepted. Gallery wraps will be accepted if at least one inch in depth and painted on all four edges.

Some pedestals are available but 3-Dimensional artists are asked to provide pedestals if possible. Please place artist’s name and title of work on upper right corner (back) of each piece before delivery to Springmaid. For Three Dimensional work, artist ID information may be placed on the back or bottom

Deadline for entry: Completed Entry Form and $25.00 entry fee must be returned to: WACG,

PO Box 1595, Myrtle Beach, SC 29578 no later than October 14, 2011. No hand delivery.

Delivery of Artwork: Work will be delivered to Springmaid Beach Resort on Wednesday, November 2nd from 9 A.M. to 12 Noon.

Final Judging will take place after the show is hung.

Any work requiring special handling or considered so fragile as to cause a hazard, or deemed unsuitable for public family display may be rejected at the sole discretion of the WACG show committee.

All entries conforming to the stated rules will be accepted unless otherwise notified by WACG.

No work may be removed before closing of the show.

Reception: The reception and awards presentation will be on

Thursday, November 3rd from 5:30 to 7:30 P.M.

However, the exhibit will open for public viewing on Thursday at 10 A.M. Over $2.000.00 in awards will be presented. Winners will be announced at the reception. There will also be a People’s Choice Award which will be announced at the closing of the show.

Close of Exhibit:

Tuesday, November 8th at 3 P.M.

Pick up: Entries must be reclaimed on Tuesday, November 8th, between 3 and 5 P.M. WACG is not responsible for artwork left beyond that date. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to arrange for someone to pick up your work if you are not able to. It is a major inconvenience for the show directors to have to be responsible for YOUR WORK if not picked up on time. PLEASE be responsible and take care of this ahead of time.

DATES

Oct 14 - Entry Deadline / Nov 2, 9am- 12 noon. -Deliver Artwork / Nov 8, 3 pm to 5 pm Pick Up Artwork

Show is open daily 10 am to 5 pm Nov 3rd -Nov 8^th / Reception Thursday November 3, 5:30 to 7:30 pm

Directions: Springmaid Beach Resort: located at 3200 South Ocean Blvd. (around the corner from The Art Museum). The exhibit will be set up in the large room located across the street from the Springmaid office. (The office is on the right past the back of the Art Museum). Ground Floor. Ample parking is available.

WACG Members’ Judged Show – Entry Form

Return the $25 Entry Fee and the signed Entry Form (keep the information section) to

WACG - PO Box 1595 - Myrtle Beach SC 29578

Artist Information

Circle One

Category: Professional Non-Professional New Artist Student [ Institution _____________________]

Name: ________________________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip ________________________________________________________________

Phone _____________________________ Email ________________________________

Title 1 _____________________________ Title 2 _____________________________

Medium _____________________________ Medium _____________________________

Framed Size _____________________________ Framed Size _____________________________

Year Completed _______ Price _____ NFS Year Completed _______ Price _____ NFS

____ I am willing to sit at the show [sign up for a time slot when you drop off your artwork].

Artist’s Signature (invalid unless signed) ________________________________________

I understand that by signing this form I agree to all terms and conditions herein stated.

WACG

PO Box 1595

Myrtle Beach SC 29578

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Waccamaw Arts and Crafts Guild
www.wacg.org
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AHA Moment

This morning I got filmed talking about my AHA moment when I decided that I needed to pursue my childhood dream of being an artist.

Mutual of Omaha is going around the country filming in 25 cities and Myrtle Beach is today and tomorrow. They invited me a couple of weeks ago and it gave me time to consider just when I made that decision to go after my dream.

It should be out on u-tube in about 3 weeks. I will post a link as soon as it appears.

It was a fun experience.

SUMMER OPEN STUDIO

For the month of June the Thursday morning open studio will continue for the 5 weeks. Class runs from 9 am until noon at the Base Rec Center in Myrtle Beach.

Come work on a project. Get feedback. Get guidance on a painting. Enjoy working with other artists. All mediums welcomed. I can help with oils, acrylics, watercolor and color pencil.

Come Create and have fun!

Artist Jackie

Swimming Pal

Went to swim a few laps this mornning and wound up with a buddy. Didn't notice him at first, but as I was going back to the other side he was half way down the way I had just come. He followed me for a few laps then took a break. After I got out, he seemed to come over and ask why I had gotten out. It made a fun morning.

Paintings March 2011

I have finished up three paintings that I have been working on. One landscape, one stylized egret and one of my 'Body Language' painting - Joy Creates! which is very heavily textured. Artist Jackie

Meet Bob

Meet Bob. I met Bob the other evening when I was sitting in traffic. Living here in the low country, I see as many egrets in the wild as I do robins, if not more. He was in the ditch on the side of the road munching on something... bugs, crayfish, chameleons... he was having a feast bobbing his head up and down. He sort of noticed me watching him, but was used to traffic and didn't get distracted.

The sun was setting and I guess his dinner was done, so he swooped up into the air. He was framed in the side window of my car and I was thinking - what a great composition! It was a strong diagonal and an 'x' shape. The sun was just beginning to set and his white feathers were iradescent and reflected the colors from the sunset and all around. He didn't appear white anymore, more like a flying rainbow.

Of course traffic began to move, so I did a quickie thumbnail (which I cannot find anymore) but the image was stuck in my brain and I had to get it onto canvas. So it is not literal, but the reaction I had to my encounter.

It almost looked as if Bob was giving me the thumbs up or a small wave as he flew into the trees.

Thanks Bob! The painting is not quite done, but I really like how it is turning out.

Artist Jackie

Lighthouse Demo

This demonstration of a lighthouse painting features the Hatteras Lighthouse of the cape in North Carolina. I like the distinctive diagonal stripes. This painting is just 8x10" yet you do get the sense of scale of how large the lighthouse is.

When placing a single object in the painting, keep it off centered. Do not make a bull's eye out of it. Notice how mine is just to the left of center. I also kept the clouds and landscape very low in the painting. This helps emphases the height of the lighthouse. Even though clouds could be anywhere in the sky, keeping them low is a compositional device to feature the height of the building. Use this when painting tall buildings, tall trees, or anything or anyone you want to give height to.

Using multiple values in the sky also features the lighthouse. Keep the top of the sky darker and make the values lighter as you head towards the horizon. Since the sky is proportionally very large, you can have a large range of values from dark to light to increase the sense of space.

Do the background first - like setting a table, put the tablecloth on first, then the dishes and then the food.

When painting the lighthouse, block in the black and white first, but do not use black nor white. Save these colors for the shadows and highlights. If you go too dark or too light too soon you have no where else to go. So I used a charcoal grey and an off white for the base colors. Then I added shadows or each side of the column and a highlight just off center on the lighthouse and blended to capture the curvature of the building. Notice how the stripes that have a curved sweep at the sides of the buildings emphases the curve of the building as well.

The small scale of the keeper's cottage at the base of the lighthouse also gives clue to our brains on just how tall the lighthouse is. Keeping the foliage in the landscape indistinct also adds to the scale of the painting. I kept out birds as well, to be in scale they would have to be tiny so they would not add much to the image.

No matter the size of the canvas, you can always capture the scale of the image if you watch your proportions when you paint.

Artist Jackie

Sitting on the Beach

This demonstration illustrates a few concepts of putting a sense of space in your paintings. Begin with the sky, a darker value at the top getting to a lighter value at the horizon. Place the horizon a little lower or a little higher than dead center. Putting the horizon in the center does not make an interesting painting. Think of the 3 bears when composing the size of the 3 main areas of a painting, have a large Papa bear, a medium size Mama bear and a small Baby bear to make it just right. Here I have the sky as Papa, the sand/sea as Mama and the figure as the baby.

The ocean starts darker lower in the painting or the 'closest' inland and gets lighter at the horizon. But at the horizon of the sea or very large body of water, has a darker line.

The sand is darker at the bottom of the canvas and gets lighter towards the horizon, except if it is getting wet from the water, then it is a darker value at the water's edge.

Remember, these value changes do not have to be drastic, they can be baby steps of changes - but need to change some in order to create the sense of space.

The figure wrapped in the blanket is sitting, so there is a shadow under them. The cast shadow on the sand should be darker than it is.

The important part of the demo is the size of the figure. The number 7 is the magic number of the human adult figure. The average size of the figure if 7 heads. determine how tall the head is and the size of the upper torso from the waist to the head is about 2 heads tall. The lower torso is about 1 head length and the legs are about 3 head lengths longs. Even when you are painting an indistinct figure in the landscape, if you follow these proportions your figure will look realistic even if you paint it with just a few strokes.

Put people in your landscapes to add life to them - just keep the 7 heads in mind.

Artist Jackie

January 2011 Demo 2 Part 1

This demo is an example of painting a cabin in a clearing.

I chose an image of a cabin that gives a nice angled view of the cabin. I made sure I placed the cabin slightly off centered on the canvas, keeping the sky and ground different sizes.

I blocked in the sky using blue and white keeping the upper part a deeper value than closer to the horizon. I mixed in streaks of white for the hint of clouds without getting fussy about them.

The grass also has a deeper value at the bottom and gets slightly lighter towards the house. This keeps the grass appearing flat and not looking like a green wall. I blended in a few streaks of red and yellow to keep the green looking natural.

I made the shadow of the cabin in the grass. I also put some shadows in the grass near the corners.

I put in the trees with vertical strokes keeping the ones by the sides slightly taller than those in the middle of the canvas. The helps keep the viewer's eyes in the painting and focusing on the cabin. Trees have darker values near the base and are slightly lighter in value near the tops where they get more light. The trees are indistinct since this is a painting of the cabin and not a landscape about trees. I want to keep the star of the painting the most tightly painted area rather than the background.

I will continue the demo next week.

Artist Jackie

January 2011 Demo Part 3

The demo is completed by finishing the trees on the right hand side. Same idea, make the trees in the distance a slightly lighter value than the ones closer to the viewer.

Use the same concept with the post for the fence. The ones in the distance are slighter lighter in value than the ones that are closer. Each post needs a shadow. Each post need a lighter value on one side and a darker value on the other, keeping the light source consist ant with the source for the trees. Each post needs a lighter value along the top.

The wire contenting each post needs to be just implied, our brains will fill in the rest.

If I were doing this at home I would take more time with the trees and fill in the branches more. I made sure the branches fill in the shape of the canvas.

All in all a good example of how to create perspective in a landscape painting.

Any questions or comments let me know.

Artist Jackie

January 2011 Demo Part 2

Part 2 of Demo

The first step today was to place the tree trunks on the image. I used a pencil, which was OK since I was over painting with brown. You can use chalk or a colored pencil that will dissolve into the paint. The regular grafite pencils can bleed through paint if you are not careful plus they are hard to erase on a canvas.

Next I painted just the trunks. I made the distant trees a lighter value, the middle trees a mid tone value and the foreground trees the darkest value. These value changes do not have to be extreme, baby steps of difference is just fine, but by changing the values you add perspective into the painting and help create a sense of space. Photographs tend to flatten out the depth of field so when you paint, you need to add that back in. By changing the values you automatically add that depth back into the painting.

I paint the trunks in short downward strokes, it is easier to stay in line than a long stroke plus the roughness of the edges give life to the trees. I also exaggerated the change in height of the trees, making the ones in the distance shorter than they appear the in the photo. This too adds depth to the painting.

Next I used a small round brush and painted in the branches. The paint should be the consistency of heavy cream. Load the brush and twirl it to a point. Start at the trunk and work out. Keep the 'v' shape between the trunk and the branches closes to a Y shape rather than flat. Although branches have many shapes and sizes you need to refer to a photo or book on tree characteristics to keep you trees looking real (if that is what you are after).

Vary the colors and values of the branches as well. Have them appear to be coming from each of the trees. When dry, most bark is as much gray as it is brown. Add some blue into your brown to get that hue that looks best. Vary the mixture as you vary your branches.

Don't overwork your branches. You do not need to paint every single one. They do not even need to connect, our brains will fill in the connections.

Finish up with an old brush that splays or a fan brush. With even lighter valued mixture, dab on the fine branches and old leaves that stay in the trees. Keep the shape of the crown of the tree. Make sure some branches cross in front of the trunks. Don't overdo, just add some, evaluate and only add more if you really, really need it.

Since I changed the spacing of the trees on the left, I felt I needed to adjust the front of the lane and widened it and curved it out to the left as well.

I then added the shadows on the grass. To stick an object down to another you need to use a shadow. Under each tree trunk I made a shadow. Plus, since my light if coming from the left, I took the shadows out to the right of each tree. This makes the trees part of the landscape and not just stuck out there. The color of a shadow is a deeper value of the color that is already there. So the shadows on the grass are a deeper green and shadows on the lane are a deeper brown.

I will continue with the painting next class.

Class Demo Jan 2011 part 1

New demonstration painting for Thursday's class. A landscape that well illustrates the concept of perspective.

The sky is an early winter's sky, a soft gray mixed from titanium white, ultramarine blue and Van Dyke brown. It is a lighter value closer to the horizon which helps give the illusion of space. The distant mountains are painted with the same mix of colors, only with more blue. The top edge is a soft, slightly blended edge, again to illustrate the distance and the wispy clouds along the top.

The mist is also the same three colors mixed, but a slightly lighter value. It is blended with very soft edges to give the soft feel of the mist.

The distant trees have some sap green mixed in the same core mixture. Soft dabs of various shapes and sizes give just a hint of a tree line. The trees are softly blended into the mist to keep the look at a far distance. TIP - keep the trees at each side of the canvas slightly taller than those in the middle to keep the viewer's eye in the painting.

The grass has the same color mixture with the addition of a touch of yellow and some cad red in spots. The grass has at least 3 values, the far distance is a lighter value than the mid ground and the grasses closest to the viewer is the darker value. By using at least 3 values, the grass lies flat rather than appearing as a green wall. All lawns or fields of grass need some warm tones in it as well as the greens to help it appear natural, interesting and inviting.

The lane is painted with 3 values as well to help it appear flat and not floating in the air. It is painted with some of the original grey mixture with more brown added. A couple of streaks of white laid out as tracks then blended horizontally give the appearance of tire tracks in the dirt.

Next I will add in the trees and fence lining the lane.

Storm Unravels

My latest painting. Done in oils. Inspired by a moment during my trip to Florida. The sky was breaking up, you could still see showers in the distance, but the clear blue sky was showing behind the clouds that appeared to be woven together like a rough cloth, were unraveling in front of our eyes.

I tried to capture that wonderful intense moment.