A New Series Emerges

"Untitled", in progress

Working with very small touches of color

Placing some very delicate marks

A new series emerges for me --  "The Tangle". Part of the series will deal with trees and the abstraction that is made by the flashes of light upon limbs, branches and twigs. Making order out of visual chaos. A big painting while planned with large shapes and basic color concept, in this case a very warm early morning light, comes down to the individual marks and the calligraphy of the brush. This is what is most exciting for me -- the drawing and the dance and the play of light skipping along the branches.

Wet Paint: Winter Splendor

This is pretty typical of the way I block in a painting. Very big shapes and very rough suggestions of where things can be. All I'm trying to do is feel the weight of the whole surface and try to search out a visual balance. All is kept very scrubby.

This is a close-up to show how simply things are blocked. I'm using a fairly large, like a size 10, flat bristle brush here. This brush is great for large bold strokes and used on it's edge or side or tip, much smaller marks can be made.

Now with all the different marks made on the horizon, the space is  defined for the first time.

With this addition of the tree line, I'm getting a good feeling of how this space and painting will progress.

I'm at the 2.5 to 3 hour mark which is typical for a painting of this size, 30x40 inches. Now it's time to look at the painting and assess what needs to be done.

At this point, virtually everything in the painting is blocked-in accept for the dark cloud at the top. Now it's a matter of slowing down to describe each form, richness of color and the texture of the paint is all to be considered. This is roughly five hours into the painting and a good time to stop. I will let things set up a little, perhaps skip a day and then proceed to finish.

Winter Splendor, oil/panel, 30x40

The addition of the cloud at the top was something that I had been thinking about the whole way through but decided to wait until the very end so I could lay it in as a semi-opaque glaze over very dry color. The painting is basically done but over the next several weeks I'll pick at it like a dog with a bone.

This painting is currently being exhibited in my show, Ambient Notes, at Travis Gallery in New Hope, PA. 

If you'd like to learn more about my working process in great detail, I'm offering a 5 hour oil painting demo DVD of another painting titled, River Bend, available on my website www.peterfiore.com/dvd.

Close Values, Color Harmony

Morning Lavender, oil/panel, 30x40

The subject of this painting is pre-dawn light. This particular morning, there was a hazy and atmorspheric umbrella over my motif. The sun is not yet up, but will soon rise behind the trees. The color that is made visible in the land and in the sky is all from the approaching sunrise. The sky is always key to the color structure of a painting. The entire painting is a repetition of all the color from the sky. This morning, all the delicate sky colors; pinks, greens, lavenders, blues and some yellows were all mellow and very much in the same value space. In light such as this, nature often gives you close values with a wide range of color. Within any given shape, the value remains somewhat constant but the color is extremely varied.

This is a good example of close values and color shifts. For example, the upper band of sky is one value and moves left to right -- warm to cool to give it visual interest. The same thing happens in the vertical tree mass and to make the trees stand out I used cooler blues to depictt the very distant ridge line behind it all which suggests distance and air behind the trees. On the hill, I used an opposite strategy of using slightly warmer color on the right and cooler on the left to push that edge deeper into shadow. Also, take note of the varied brush strokes that mingles warm and cools which blends in the eye at a distance to create the illusion of light and space.

Same principle here, using warm and cool to depict all shapes but the value varies according to the objects depicted. In this case, the foliage is a vertical plane which is lower in value and the snow is a horizontal plane, reflecting all that the sky has, and is lighter in value but the warm cool relationships are maintained.

This is a detail on the far left of the tree line and serves to show that any given area is made complete -- a painting unto itself. The upper tree line has much varied color but softer in brush marks to suggest further distance in the painting. All the color principles that we spoke of are evident here as well.

Summer Shade

Summer Shade, oil/panel, 18x24

This is a painting of an area that I've become quite fond of. What I was attracted to here, as I often am, is the visual tangle, the dancing play of light and the reflection on the water. What also caught my eye was the sunlit portion of the bridge which lends itself to a high value with great opportunity for mingling color and temperature to create the brilliant sensation of light striking the bridge.

A couple of years ago I wiped out a failed painting and it left a magenta mess on the gessoed surface. I wanted to try something a little different for me. I chose to paint a predominantly dark and green painting over this magenta field knowing that it would create, instantly, an exciting visual. In this detail, look past all the brush work, you can see the magenta stain that I started with.

What makes this detail interesting, other than the fact that it looks like a very well painted pair of undies, is the interplay of warm and cool color notes that optically create a sense of scintillating light. Most importantly, I needed to keep the shape of the light on the bridge with all the warm and cool variations at the same value so that the bridge stays anchored in space. The vibrancy is set up by the dark green at the top and surrounding.

This is a close-up of the four main trees. I wanted to show how suggestive my painting can be. Painting the sunlit ground plane, carves out the bases of these tree trunks, when viewed from a distance create the illusion of solidity and dimension. This is the magic that I strive for in painting. When you zoom in and look at a smaller section of it, you will see how an edge is made crisp by using broken color and values. This is the visual tangle that I find exciting and a challenge to paint.

Some more of the same thinking of painting behind and around objects to make them visible. The wall and the trees to the right and the background were all painted one darker value with warm and cool color variations that help to create atmosphere. By placing lighter values and warmer color and temperature changes create the illusion of tree trunks. The brilliant sunlight at the bottom helps to anchor and establish the ground plain, vital in keeping the wall and trees in the distance.

Lesson in Close Values

Autumn Gold, October, oil/panel, 18"x36"

What attracted me to this scene was the spectacular play of light -- both in the sky and in the field. A certain amount of manipulation was necessary to strike this composition. For instance, the strip of light I extended all the way from the left to the golden maple. The light that is shining on the roof of the small outbuilding was created to accentuate the focal point. Also, I eliminated several silos and trees to simplify and heighten the effect.

Here is a detail of the focal point. In this area, I placed the strongest light and the darkest dark. The sharpest edge, the roof, and the most chromatic color, the tree. All guarantee where I want the viewer to look.

If you look at the roof, the play of warm and cool in close values ensures that the color in the roof lies as one shape. The edges are relatively sharp, but not the sharpest edges that could be made. I had to remember that they were in the distance and needed atmospheric softening, hence relatively sharp.

A detail of the field in shadow reveals a variety of rich colors with limited value change keeping variety and interest in an otherwise flat space. You can put any color you want in any given area, as long as the values are the same, the shape will hold together.

Wet Paint - Rising Sun

Rising Sun, oil/panel, 36"x36"

I was struck by how this tree was much more than an object, it was very much a presence. After doing several studies of this new motif, I came to this solution. I wanted a heightened sense of color and light to convey the life and power of this tree.

Observe the cool blues and greens that are placed in the reflected light of the shadow of this tree. These touches of the sky color affect the top sides of the branches as well as the main trunk of the tree which helps to give it roundness and anchor it in it's space.

Here, the sunlit portion of the pine needles is made more intense by placing complimentary pieces of paint to act as a foil to the warm orange light. If you notice the complimentary colors are kept in the same value in the light and lowered in the shadow to keep the 2 groups, light and shadow, separate. The light has it's particular family of color and values as does the shadow.

This is an extreme close-up of a tiny section of the painting where the tree root meets and merges into the ground. The mingled color here is kept fresh by not over mixing on the palette but rather letting the color blend and fuse within previous passages on the painting.

The same approach works here in the deep shadow, variations of warm and cooler passages kept in the same value.

Wet Paint - A Winter's Morning Sun

A Winter's Morning Sun, oil/panel, 12"x24"

A favorite subject of mine -- not the tree, the light. Read on.

This entire painting, just as in this detail, is all about the mingling of warm and cool passages of paint which translates into light and shadow. Keeping the eye visually entertained is paramount in my approach so that no matter how minutely you look at a section of the painting it is a microcosm of the entire work.

This section of the painting is sun struck and therefore is predominately warm -- note the word, predominately. There are still cool passages to give interest and vitality to the warmth of the light.

Here the application of paint is somewhat different. I am using the handle of the brush to scrape and carve back into shapes to suggest the texture of the pine needles and the distant grasses -- literally pushing and abrading the surface to create the needed texture.

Rather than using extreme value contrasts, I have found that using temperature changes to portray light and shadow creates more luminosity. By keeping my values close, a lighter and more atmospheric effect is achieved.

By the way, I do happen to like this tree very much.

Return to: Auction for Nathan.

Anniversary Show

In the Shadows, January, oil/panel, 20x16

This is a new painting that will be featured at the Travis Gallery's 20th Anniversary Show this April. What I enjoyed about this painting was the broad treatment of shapes and very scrubby textures painted in a very bold manner. It captures the energy of what was before me on that day -- the bouncing light off of the snow and all of the reflected light on the tree.

Wet Paint - Twins, Red Carpet

Twins, Red Carpet, oil/panel, 18"x24"

A new motif has emerged. I walk often along this path that parallels the Delaware River. The white pine trees along the way have become my latest obsession. Trees have always been an important subject for me and I believe on many levels that they are metaphors for life. They have long histories and many stories to tell.

On this day, I responded to this thick carpet of red pine needles -- very chromatic, richly textured and peppered with scrubby green foliage and cool notes of the gravel walkway in the foreground.

As of late, I've been enjoying painting on gessoed, hardwood panels. I prefer the slick surface and it's ability to retain my initial brushstrokes of the block-in and then allowing subsequent layers of paint to be mingled or weaved layer upon layer to establish both atmosphere and objects in space.

Here I used a very soft brush to create the smooth and solid transitions in the tree trunks and what I mean by that is even tones in the paint.

Again, the color variations of warm and cools working together. Sometimes cool is an area that is just less warm. Notice the closeness of the value -- squint and you will see one shape.

Here, the scrubiness of the paint and subtle color and temperature changes dotted with the darker accents give the illusion of space.

If you look closely there are no razor sharp edges in this painting. What separates form is value, color and temperature changes.

Wet Paint - Morning Light, Winter Stream

Morning Light, Winter Stream, oil/linen, 30"x40"

In this painting, I was trying to capture a sense of light that can be most fleeting -- delicate warm sunlight filtering through the distant trees and onto the snow in the foreground. I used a tonalist approach for the distant shoreline by using darker shapes against the snow on the distant bank. I also incorporated a luminist approach to color where as I created a sense of light and shadow in the foreground with temperature changes rather than value changes. This enables me to keep the snow in shadow bright and light instead of dark and murky if I had used a dramatic value change.

In this detail, I wanted to show the weaving process of color, texture and values to create space.

Here, I used lighter values on the branches of the near tree to create a separation of snow on those branches from the background and also some flecks of warmer light.

Rather than using a dramatic value shift to seperate light and shadow on the snow, I chose to hold the separation with a change in color temperature. Shaodws are cool and the lights are warm. This technique yields a much more subtle and sophisticated approach to the representation of light and shadow.

One final detail to show the reflections in the water are warm because of what is directly above it -- the warmth in the trees.

This painting is a finalist in the Art Renewal Center's 6th Annual 2009/10 Salon Competition.

Wet Paint - New Growth, After the Burn

New Growth, After the Burn, oil/panel, 12"x16"

This white pine has been the subject for several paintings. On this day, I came upon a very strange sort of scene. The ground and surrounding areas had been burned off. The charred bark of the tree was most interesting in its subtle and delicate range of dark tones including warm blacks, cool blacks, reds, oranges and even lavender were all represented. Proving that all color is present in neutrals; whites, grays and in this case black.

In this detail, there are a variety of edges from the branch that's coming toward the viewer with its sublte modulation of warm and cool tones to the branches coming off the tree moving back into the picture plane. This affect is achieved with the lightening of value, neutralizing of color and softening of forms.

In this detail, I wanted to show how the the tree is made to merge into the ground by suggesting the dark of the tree beneath the ground cover and softening its form as it moves away from the tree.

I've included this detail to show how really abstract the ground plane with grasses, leaves and twigs can be suggested with a variety of brush strokes -- sharp edges, soft edges and lost edges -- and little flecks of color and value changes to focus the eye.