Plein air painting demonstration: Part III

Note: This is a four part plein air painting demonstration of my painting "Vineyard Patterns".  If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here. You can see the rest of the demo at the following link:  Part IV (conclusion). I look again at my subject and notice a little tree in the field. To be honest, I am not sure that I had noticed it before. I decide to play up this element and use this as my focal point or center of interest:

The light is really changing a lot now. Sun shines intermittently on my scene, but behind me there are some pretty threatening clouds. I decide I had better not dawdle around any more if I want to get this painting finished!

6. To help my process along, I try and pre-mix large piles of the various colors I see in the rest of the landscape.

7. I add a little more detail to the focal point tree than I do the background trees, which will help to push the little tree forward in the picture plane.

Stay tuned for the conclusion!

Note: This is a four part plein air painting demonstration of my painting "Vineyard Patterns".  If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here. You can see the rest of the demo at the following link:  Part IV (conclusion).

Plein air painting demonstration- Part II

Note: This is a four part plein air painting demonstration of my painting "Vineyard Patterns".  If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here. You can see the rest of the demo at the following links:  Part III, Part IV (conclusion). 3. Lay in the sky: I like to lay in the sky as early as possible in my process. The sky is the source of light and generally it appears to have the lightest tonal value in most landscape paintings. By laying in the lightest value first I can more easily judge value relationships (the relationship between lights and darks) for the rest of the painting.

4.  With my sky in place, I can now judge how dark the mountain range should be. I begin to block in the distant mountains and trees, still with very little detail.

5. After I've blocked in the distant trees I step back and begin to reassess my composition. What is my focal point? The eye tends to like to zoom in on something when looking at a composition, and up to this point I've been focusing more on the abstract shapes of the vineyard to move the eye around the painting. This is good, but is there something more? I'll let you know what I decide in the next installment!

Note: This is a four part plein air painting demonstration of my painting "Vineyard Patterns".  If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here. You can see the rest of the demo at the following links:  Part III, Part IV (conclusion).

My Approach to Painting on Location (a demo)

Note: This is a four part plein air painting demonstration of my painting "Vineyard Patterns".You can see the rest of the demo at the following links: Part II, Part III, Part IV (conclusion). 1. Step one: Choose a scene.

I often head out to the Virginia mountains to do some plein air painting, and on a morning last week I visited Veritas Vineyards in Afton Virginia. This is a beautiful winery and there are many possibilities for painting subject matter. However, my umbrella broke and I hadn't yet purchased a new one, which can make painting on location in an open field a bit difficult. If the sun is shining directly on your canvas, all you see is a bunch of glare and your paintings end up turning out way to dark and muddy as a result.

Having said that, I can't stress enough how important it is to take the time to choose a scene that excites and interests you. You have a better chance of producing a much better painting as a result. Luckily I came upon a nice shady spot in a private area off of the main road past the winery's tasting room and became excited about this scene:

Okay, so it loses something in my photograph, perhaps! But what I liked about this scene was the abstract shapes and patterns formed by the sweeping lines of the vines and ground. The light was constantly going back and forth behind cloud masses, making painting with consistent lighting very difficult. But that is the fun challenge of painting on location!

2. Lay out the design.

My paintings usually begin very inauspiciously, I'm afraid! All I want to do at this point is plan my layout and get the elements of the scene down in very abstract shapes.

As you can plainly see, I have to work quickly with the changing light, so I don't do a lot of detailed drawing. In fact, I'd say I do far fewer details in the plein air drawing stage than I do in the studio, and if any one were to come upon my painting at this stage they would hardly be impressed! But the marks mean something to me, and I guess that's what matters. In the coming days I will continue to unfold this plein air painting demo, so stay tuned!

Note: This is a four part plein air painting demonstration of my painting "Vineyard Patterns". You can see the rest of the demo at the following links: Part II, Part III, Part IV (conclusion).

Painting lavender

Here is an exerpt of a recent email I received from a student of painting, inquiring about painting lavender:  "I just cannot get the lavender/periwinkle  color  figured out. How did you make it? Do you recall? Thanks again. I've much enjoyed reading your blog and your artist's  tips.

 Cheers,  T. J."

Dear T.J.,

Well, color mixing is a very ingrained habit that happens when I'm "in the zone" so to speak. Typically for lavender what I'll most often use is Ultramarine Blue (deep) mixed with Permanent Rose (W&N) and white. Distant lavender looks cooler, so I might use a bit more blue Cerulean or ultramarine, and less rose. It just takes a lot of experimenting, but after a while color mixing becomes pretty intuitive. -Jennifer *** 

Painting lavender is so much fun, and I feel so fortunate to have traveled to Provence during lavender season. One thing that struck me was the way that lavender changes color temperature. Sometimes it looked like a deep blue jewel, other times a violent purple, and still other times the red tones would come out so that it looked more heather.

"First Light", oil on canvas, 16x20" Price:$1175.00 framed

As with anything in landscape painting, the color temperature of your subject is very much dependant on the light. Morning light appears warm until you compare it to light in the evenings. At high noon, the light is directly overhead, so your subject looks flatter and devoid of shadow areas. To get the best understanding of the effects of light on a subject, it is imperative (for me) to go out in nature and paint what I see. I paint from photos all of the time, but only after I have done a considerable amount of painting, sketching and observing of the subject at hand on location. Photographs are a great resource, but they can lie! It is fine to paint from photographs and study them and the work of others while you are learning. But painting from nature can be the best teacher of all.

Oil painting; Possible solutions to common challenges

Here is a followup to yesterday's post; "Why paint with oils?"

• If you can't stand the smell of turpentine, use odorless mineral spirits (OMS) or Turpenoid Natural to thin and clean up. *Be aware though that while OMS is easier on the nose it is no less toxic for those who are sensitive to turps. In that case your best alternative is to clean up with Turpenoid or some other natural product.
• To avoid "mud", refrain from mixing too many colors together.  Try mixing with your palette knife instead of your brush. This will allow the paint load to sit on the end of the brush and not mush down into the brush toward the ferrules.
• Avoid the overuse of white. White will lighten values but also cool and dull colors, giving a chalk-like appearance to most colors if overused.
• Avoid the overuse of black or dark earthtones. Some would say avoid ANY use of black as it is a dead color. With hesitation I will say I have nothing against black if used judiciously. But I usually suggest beginning students keep black off of their palette because there is a tendency to reach for the black (or umber) for anything that requires shading or darker values. This  can result in an overly dull, flat looking painting. If you use a mixture of your darkest primaries and just a touch of a secondary you can achieve much richer, more vibrant darks. Ultramarine + Alizarin Crimson + Viridian or Sap Green will "read as" black but be much richer looking.
• Avoid over-working back into a wet section. Experiment with laying in your color and leaving it alone as much as possible. Over blending and mushing your paint around on your canvas can lead to  "mud".  If you need to go back into an area either wait until the paint "sets up" a bit, or scrape off and repaint the area.

 Experiment with other mediums:

• While absolutely no medium is necessary, it's fun to experiment with different painting mediums to enhance the behavior of your oils. There are a variety of mediums available that can help speed drying time, enhance the fluidity of you brush stroke, and help your paint strokes stay where you put them. Liquin is a relatively odorless option that adds viscosity and helps speed drying. Copal medium is incredibly seductive but it does have a very strong odor as it is mixed with turpentine. Galkyd Lite is what I'm using right now. It's very similar to Liquin but not as "slippery". *Note: Whatever you use, a little medium goes a long way.
• Some people experiment with alkyds. These are oil paints with alkyd resin mixed in, creating a faster drying oil paint. (Down side: they can appear more "plastic looking". Colors aren't as rich and can seem very bright and candy-like. They still clean up with turps or mineral spirits and can be used in combination with regular oil paints.)
• Some people experiment with water soluble oil paints. These clean up with water, and tend to dry somewhat faster than regular oils. The cleanup can be a real advantage to those who love oils but are allergic to turps or mineral spirits. (Down side: the texture can seem stickier and tackier to those used to oils. Synthetic brushes are recommended for these paints as bristle brushes turn mop-like when used with water.)