June, Inside & Out

This is a studio painting from a reference photo trip I took with my daughter. After soccer practice we decided to take a road trip. The sun was setting, the weather perfect, and the colors were great!

The second image was done on location, in about an hour from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. I've done these buildings before, (Behind the Courthouse) because I love that red tin roof against the foliage.

Another studio painting from a study I did on location. I changed the crop to make it about the sky. I need a lot of work on skies!

Lastly, flowers from the garden done on the spot. Spent roughly an hour, mostly swatting flies.

The Begonias in the metal pale will be the focus of a larger painting, although I may still include the clay pot and tree stump. I have no idea what the plant is in the foreground, we keep throwing the labels away.

Notes to Myself

I snuck one more painting in before the end of May. I like the way the trees and foliage turned out, so I thought I would analyze those areas to see what makes it work for me. By the way this is the same gazebo from the previous post, from a different vantage point.

First detail is the middleground trees to the left. I did a color scale and a second color scale desaturated into grays. I adjusted the width of the sections to correspond to the amounts used of each value/color. It is a pretty short range with middle and dark very close in value. The largest amount of color is the grayed/green, with more limited use of warmer greens making the trees recede but still give the illusion of branches coming forward with sun-struck leaves. The lightest green shows that best. It, for the most part, was scumbled lightly over the other values of green which breaks up the color and resembles the space between leaves. It also helps to drag the greens right on top of the trunks and branches to create more depth. The trunks and branches were handled much the same as the lightest green. Kind of a drag and lift while adjusting the amount of pressure applied, to reflect the twists, bends and direction the branches head in. The sky holes are a saturated blue, very similar in value to the lightest green and applied lightly to break up and smear the blue to give it a green cast.

Below is a detail of the trees on the right. Different shades of green and lighter overall. But, again has the short value range with a dominant value and temperature.

I was, unknowingly, using a conte crayon for these trees. but it worked really well. I used a very light touch and it picked up the green giving it a dark green/grey look, until you add more force. It also holds an edge much better for the thinner branches.

I think I see a pattern here? A very similar value range appears in the tulip leaves also. In truth, I don't recall making a conscious effort to keep repeating this type of value pattern, but only to concentrate on limiting the amount of distinct shapes within a larger shape. This limited value range and dominant color and temperature seems to help unify the overall shape and still have enough modeling to create a sense of volume. The repetition of the pattern seems to help unify the overall picture.

I thought this last detail was really interesting. I sampled all the different colors used for the tulip flowers. I didn't use pure white, but they sure look white. It's interesting to see how different the colors look on white, than when there are surrounded by the various greens used. So much brighter and saturated on white. Its just the value difference that makes them pop and the yellows to appear saturated.

I don't know how many times I've caught myself saying, "if I could only find this certain color, it would be perfect". I look and look and try numerous sticks that just don't work. Problem is the sticks which are usually in my Heilman box are surrounded by other sticks of various colors. It makes that certain stick look quite different that when you put it on the painting and its surrounded by completely different colors. The yellow tulips are a perfect example. I kept picking up these really saturated yellows and they just screamed wrong! I finally gave in and chose two values of pretty dull, dingy yellow. These ended up looking much closer to the real thing and stayed back in space like they needed to. I've also found that it also helps to choose two sticks of the same value and overlay them to make a new color that comes closer to what I had intended.

Early May

I haven't done any painting since early May, and these were the last two I worked on. I've been spending all my time working on the house, and it appears most of my summer will be spent that way. Postings will be sparse for awhile.

I've included some close-ups, that hopefully will show the amount of layering and scumbling I use. "It looks just like a photograph", is something I hear a lot. It's really quite maddening! However, apparently I need a sense "of realism", because I've never been able loosen up drastically. I love it when others simplify things down to simple shapes of dominant color, and still maintain a sense of realism. It is a very distinctive method of application, and most often I can identify their work immediately. But, that is their method, mine is different. I think that is good. It would be rather boring to have everyone use the same techniques.

Perhaps with the following close-ups, you will be able to see that there is really only an illusion of a lot of detail. A trick on the mind, created out of numerous strokes of value and color. There is very limited use of hard edges or linear work, to define space, shape or apply emphasis, but rather it most often accomplished value, temperature/saturation, color and shape.

To me the following images show what I see while I'm working on a picture. However, I constantly move back about 4-6ft. to check and see how it works from a more typical viewing distance. In reality, things are only simply modeled, with just enough (for me) information to describe differences in items and textures. I have hardly indicated every leaf, mortar joint or branch from the actual scene. There is a lot of subtle value and color shifts within objects, which is why I believe people think they see so much detail.

These images better illustrate the subtle shifts. If they are not subtle, the painting will get very busy and distracting. If you scroll back to the top image and squint, most of the shifts disappear into large blocks of value.

I love stone work. I think pastel is the ideal medium for painting a lot of things, but there is nothing better to describe stone texture. Two other things that grabbed my interest were one, the area of blueish green behind the large tree branches and to the left of the vase. I played this up dramatically. It really helps add a sense of depth and helps alleviate the large mass of green. Second, there was very warm reflected light bouncing off the stone pedestals and rail. The stone is actually a very cold blue/grey. I used this reflected light as an overall color scheme to warm the stone up and to keep a dominant color temperature.

This gazebo overlooks the James River. The gazebo and the path leading to it were surrounded by yellow and white tulips. The landscapers do a wonderful job with their plantings. I also really liked this huge rock formation in the foreground. I had to tone the rock down drastically, and make it much closer in value to the grass. I also ended up cropping much of it out. It was competing too much with the gazebo for importance.

Again, the close-up shows the same value and color shift technique, which gives the illusion of grass, stone, wood and foliage. It's just a lot of marks, that when viewed at a distance, trick the brain into believing it sees recognizable things.

Spring in Virginia

It's hard to beat Virginia in the spring, the color is fantastic. Azaleas, dogwoods etc., produce a spectrum of color. It's too bad it doesn't last all summer. I decided to visit Bryan park, just north of the city of Richmond. It's the first time I've actually driven into the park. I could see the azaleas from the highway, so I felt obligated to check it out. Sure glad I did.

I did some research on the park. Here's the info I found most interesting. In 1952, 17 acres of the park became the section called the Azalea Loop. They planted 45,000 azaleas, yes thousand, in 50 different varieties. At the park's peak, as many as 400,000 visitors would pass through the loop to view the spring show. It appears to me that the park is not in the shape that it once was. I believe most of the upkeep is now done by volunteers, due to budget cuts. The park also has a bit of a bad reputation nowadays. But, I will certainly be back next spring, its a show I don't want to miss!

Azalea Loop. My favorite color of azalea along with this lilac colored tree that I'm not sure what it's name is. I think the light on this painting, is perhaps, the best I've done.

I've temporarily named this one Vermilion & Carmine. It seemed that Sennelier Chinese Vermilion in combination with a Rembrandt Carmine 318,7 came as close to matching this line of azaleas as I could find. I had an awful time with the sky and leaves on this one. Just couldn't keep the blue saturated and clean, kept turning green on me.

Curbside Appeal is my temporary title for this one. I like to add neutral grays whenever possible. The curb and road were just the ticket here. I had to crop this one down some, the dogwood blossoms were everywhere, and I couldn't simplify the top enough to make it work.

I actually started this painting with the curb and road, and then worked my upward. The curb, road and azalea were basically done in 10 minutes. The rest took me two days, and yet I consider the bottom half the best part. So that tells me I over-think too much. I end up thinking my self in circles -- value, color/temperature, and patterns. I chase my tail around in circles like a dog. Never catching the tail, and overworking the picture. It seems it would be better turning off my brain, turning up the tunes and just reacting to what I see. It's a lot more fun that way, anyways!

Spring break

This was all I managed to get done last week, although I did a lot of work. Taxes being one, along with some framing for an upcoming show. Also, I spent one day gathering reference photos for those emergency days/weeks when the schedule doesn't allow me to stray to far from home. Got some wonderful spring color shots with dogwood, azaleas and redbuds all blooming at the same time.

The above painting is from a location on the James River. A nice little shady spot off the hiking trail. The sun, peaking through the tree canopy, created a nice hot spot in the splashing water, and created a nice contrast between the moving water and the moss covered rocks in the shade.

I'm not sure whether this is successful or not. I do like the eye movement created by the Z pattern. I think there is a good feeling of depth, which is heavily influenced by gradations. Dark to light, saturated color to greyed color, warm to cool and definition to mere indication. I'm definitely going to consider gradations more as a tool for creating a greater sense of space. The water and rocks are working for me, and have some nice texture shifts. However, I'm not sure the translation from light into shade works without the indication of the tree canopy. I cropped out the sky and canopy, which were high contrast, because they conflicted with the splashing water and dark rocks in the foreground, which is the focal point.

Although it may not work as a whole, I did learn a different way of emphasizing space. Although I've read about aerial perspective and color shifts of warm to cool etc., for years, when I started to see it more as a graduated scale, a value scale or a color scale. Something like a pantone screen tint book or a 4-color process book. This seemed to make more sense to me. Too many years in graphics!

New images

I'm adding these revised images in hopes that they will be an improvement over yesterdays post. If you have an opinion as to which versions look better please let me know.

Back Outside

I finally made it back outside to paint. The weather couldn't be better, and the best part is the bugs aren't out in force yet!! The first picture is from Thursday the 1st. I went to a spot with some wide open space, but it was a little too wide open and not very captivating. I moved down the fence line some and found this little tree loaded with yellow buds or flowers, couldn't tell exactly from that distance, but it looked springy and that's what I was after anyways. The second painting is from Friday. Second day out and already I can't seem to find anything that is even remotely interesting. I went to three different locations and didn't like anything. After 2 hrs. of running around I forced myself to paint the first thing I saw with some contrast (12 noon, not ideal) and some color. I ended up liking the end result.

So I finally get back outside, I end up with two pictures I'm OK with, and then the real work begins. I want to post them, oh the agony!!! I carted everything outside to shoot on the north side of the house in the shade. I looked at the files and they had way too much cyan. So I re-shot them with various calibrations of red added. Still too blue, except a reddish blue. Well, now I'm ticked, time to scan them. After various attempts, still too blue but I played with them for what seemed like forever to get to this point. I hope they look halfway decent.

Hopefully there will be some more to post in a week