Painting Demo - Clearing Storm, Summer

The studio with a readied canvas

I came upon this scene after a severe thunderstorm. The sky opened and a warm light blanketed the field and the clouded sky. This painting, Clearing Storm, Summer, will be at my show at the Travis Gallery in New Hope, PA this November. In the next 11 steps you will see the painting unfold. It is painted on a 36x48 inch stretched linen canvas. Enjoy.

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.

Wet Paint - Spring Green, Herricks Cove

Spring Green, Herricks Cove, oil/canvas, 18"x24"

On this day the light was clear, sharp -- just spectacular. Color bounced every where. The water reflected the sky, leaves moved in the breeze. This scene was full of constant motion. That's what I wanted to capture.

The variety of edges is what representational painting is all about. Compare the crisp edges of the sunlit roof of the boathouse and it's left edge, all created with a painting knife, with the soft edges of the surrounding areas -- this is what creates depth between the boathouse and tree line. Color within the boathouse suggests the reflected light of the sky off the water with the mingling of warm and cool greens.

The leaves of this birch tree go from shadow into light. The variety of greens that are used are what help create the illusion of space. The dull earth greens contrasting with the sharp crisp yellow greens create the illusion of light. The various angles and facets of the leaves lend to the impression of a slight breeze in the air.

Here the water is painted very softly with a variety of color in contrast to the shoreline which is darker and warmer. In the upper right of this detail, the water is painted with the edge of a knife to create the spacial relationship between water and land. Where the water meets the shoreline is kept down in value to ensure the land jumps up above it.

Wet Paint - Barn at Tizzano

Barn at Tizzano, oil/canvas, 18"x24"

This is an outbuilding on the property where we last stayed in Tuscany. The last light of the day with it's warm glow caught the building, trees and grass.

I liked the intermingling of the warm and cool notes on the facade of the barn as well as the soft edges of the vine growing across the space.

The depth in the trees is created by the use of various values of green -- from the deep that recede to the lighter touches that sit on the surface and jump out at the viewer.

Giving depth and interest to a simple area like a lawn is no easy matter. It needs to be designed. In this case, I created transparent areas by scraping down opaque passages and then painting on top with other values, colors and textures to create depth. Instead of glazing, I chose to use all opaque pigments to create close values and textures so they would lie together on a flat plane.

Wet Paint - Tuscan Barn

Tuscan Barn, oil/canvas, 24"x48"

This is the kind of light that I've come to really enjoy -- light that falls over my shoulder -- creating large shapes of color and texture. This Tuscan barn was a wonderful discovery. It's similar to subjects that I enjoy painting near my home in Pennsylvania. The large sweeping fields that lead you back into distant spaces.

What I enjoy about the Italian landscape are the expansive views. The color is mediterranean; siennas, ochres, warm whites, all the earth tones come into play. What captivated me in this painting was that little spot of red ochre on the roof of the barn. That little shape set the whole composition.

There is a study for this painting on Landscape a Day, Italian Study 03-04-09.

I've included some close ups to show you some of the details in the painting. I hope you enjoy.

Here you can see the variety of the brush strokes and how simple they really are (click image for a larger view).

Working with opaque color, in a weaving like process, over transparent glazes creates a tremendous sense of depth in space (click image for a larger view).

The distant hill with it's mingling of warm and cool tones, kept in the same value, create an effective atmospheric hillside (click image for a larger view).

Landscape a Day has Moved

Some Landscape a Day studies

Landscape a Day has been archived in a new location at landscapeaday.blogspot.com. Barbara finally got the comments to work, so please feel free to leave one if you're so inclined.

Stay tuned for new "thoughts on paintings" on this blog.