Plein Air Set Up and Touch Up

It has been hot and humid so we have been searching for shade on our out door excursions.  We found a nice stretch of east-west trees along the shore of the Credit River.

In the Shade

It was a bright day so looking at the scene in that light shut down the old eyes, and looking at the panel in the studio told that story.

From the River

The light and dark shapes were not well differentiated.  I knew that as soon as I looked at it. So I used my memory to go back into the painting and restate the light and dark families.  For your reference this photo shows what I saw - well, not really, but you get the idea.

Photo Reference

I started by restating the darks.  You want to maintain the darks.  Using my memory and thinking about the whole painting I started like this.

Background Darks

And progressing.....

Darks and Lights Separated

From here I can take the painting to any desired level of completion.  Normally I like to get the painting to this level on site so the real painting can begin.  A bit of a detour this time.  Part of the concept for this painting was to reduce the proportion of the greens.  From here some edge work and some light versus colour work can be done.

Strategies for Green

The Green Machine has arrived early this year.  I know quite a few artists who have packed it in to avoid going green.  Me, I paint on through all the seasons, but I don't make many all - greens.  I have developed coping mechanisms for dealing with Green.  Here they are;

• Mix variety in the greens - use reds, violets, oranges, yellows, earths, and white in them.
• Lay down different greens with most brush strokes, use different strokes and textures.
• Make structure the focus.  Old buildings, rock formations, water.
• Paint on a coast or lakeshore.
• Paint still life or from the model.

Climb It, 12x16, Oil on Canvas

On the Rocks, 8x10, Oil on Linen

These are from the coast near Bar Harbor.

Closer to home in the greenery in the Escarpment area in Southern Ontario, I have been painting in the Towns.

Court Room and Patio, 16x20, Oil on Linen

And in the countryside I choose a subject and concept to give me this, 

Think About It, 11x14, Oil on Linen

From this.

For Sale in the Hockley

Going Light en Plein Air

Much of my plein air painting is done with only small hikes.  For longer excursions on foot I find I am looking more and more for ways to lighten the load.  Recently I have returned to painting on loose canvas.  I used this approach successfully when travelling further afield by airplane.  For smaller pieces I use oil primed linen canvas pads.

10 Pieces per Pad

Take a sheet off the pad and mount it on a board with clips.  Ready to go.

Common Sizes

These are the size of common frames so they must be mounted on panel.  A straight forward process when you get the hang of it.

If you want to go larger or mount on stretcher bars, cut a piece from primed canvas approximately 2 inches larger than the stretcher frame.

18x24 Stretchers

Then mount the loose canvas taping or marking the size to be painted on a backer board.

18x24 Taped on Backer Board

And you are ready to go.  If you choose to mount the finished painting it can be stretched on the stretcher bars.  The oil paint (or acrylic) is flexible enough in thin layers should you wrap a painted section around the edge of the stretchers, so it won't crack.  You can also mount on a board.  This is my preferred treatment.  I use acrylic medium and a book press to flatten the painting on the surface of the board.  I seal the edge and back of the board to minimize warping.

The loose canvas approach is not only lighter, but requires much less storage space.  As you can see I also paint on loose canvas in the studio some of the time.

Toning a Canvas

I probably tone my canvas 75%- 85% of the time.  You don't have to do this.  So why do I tone?  First, it takes away the stark white canvas.  That is an easy start to a painting.  I find it makes my colour mixing and value judgement easier (I mix on a warm grey palette).  It eliminates little white spots in the passages of thin paint.  Important when I have a limited time in plein air.  And finally, it helps give me a colour key that I want.  You can tone your canvases, let them dry and take them out to paint.  I sometimes do this, but more often I find the colour I want for the undertone depends on the light, the composition, and the concept for the painting at hand.  So, I put on a wash on site and paint into it wet in wet.  That facilitates easy strokes and paint manipulation.

In Cobalt Blue

I have read all sorts of "you can't tone with blue or yellow, or tone with a warm like burn sienna etc."  If it fits your concept do it.  There are no rights or wrongs.  There might be some advantages to some approaches.  But I find these become personal.  So experiment.  I also like a non absorbent ground to aid paint manipulation and keep the colours fresh without sinking in and losing lustre.  This is important when painting direct or alla prima.

Just minutes ago I toned a larger canvas in hot orange.  A little hard on the eyes at first but as I progress that goes away and the concept comes into play.  I use oil paint to tone on an oil primed canvas or linen.

In the past I had an interesting situation.  Took a small painting to a show.  Put it on the floor against the wall.  Ready to hang.  As I stood up to talk to a friend I knocked the painting a bit.  Nothing much.  After my discussion I bent down to straighten up the painting.  To my surprise a largish chunk of the painting was laying flat on the floor!  It looked like a ragged piece of paper.  Everyone gathered round in surprise.  This painting was done in oil on top of an acrylic coloured ground.  I got separation.

I talked to a well known paint maker in Toronto.  He assured me that you "should be alright" with this practice.  After I told him my story, he admitted that the oil to acrylic bond could only be expected to be a mechanical bond.  It there is nothing to hang on to, the bond won't be so strong, so scuff it up.  After more investigation I learned that oil to oil provides a chemical bond.  More consistent and stronger.  Then I read about the practice on the Gamblin web site.  They do not recommend the practice.  So there you have it!

The Class

The class on the weekend went quite well.  We started on Vince Lombardi time, 15 minutes early.  I was hoping that the rain forecast would be wrong.  It was.  However, the sky was a silvery violet and blue grey.  Just the perfect amount of confusion for those used to painting from sunny photos.

Our location was on the grounds of a large victorian home complete with turret.  The gardens provided refuge for those avoiding the drawing associated with the house.

Motif and Setup

Some of the participants have been in my classes in the past.  Others not, and still others fairly inexperienced.  Four men and six women.  Unusual mix.

We went over the light of the day - cool, few shadows but relatively warm and the concept of a local tone painting.  Then we reviewed the classical concept of perspective and the use of the eye line/horizon line.  Vocal and silent questions.  I pointed out how it worked in garden scenes.  More queries and looks.  We finished with some strategies for plein air and a short discussion of the palette.

So, what were the typical difficulties?

Drawing, observing and measuring, edges, simplification

Shapes, observing, simplification

Values, observing

Colour, value, chroma

Timidity, "what if I make a mistake"

Here "observing" means that people tended to paint what they thought was there, not what was there by observation.  To a person, everyone had the right idea in these areas.  They found that choosing a garden scene proved quite difficult.  Three people chose the whole house.  Two chose a chunk of the house.  They all found the drawing much more complex than they had imagined.  But struggling through, most surprised themselves with their accomplishment.  These painters will all improve with more time on the brush.  The principles are there and will come along with practice and a few pointers.

Some of these painters had never heard of edges before.  My former students claimed they hadn't either.  I demonstrated a few of the uses for them.  Seemed a mystery.

Of course I learned from the participants.  The choice of composition and the use of a monochromatic painting with a few touches of colour were insightful for me.

Robert Doak Oils

I took advantage of a Brooklyn visit to see my daughter and her new family.  Robert Doak, renowned oil paint maker was just at the end of the F line.  We set off in the rain.  Wife, daughter, baby in full dressed armour baby buggy.  Ian was at work.  At the end of the F line they told me to just go down this street, Bridge street runs into it.  We will come along after a coffee.

It wasn't there.  So, I walked in ever increasing circles, got drenched and found Bridge street. May be they will find me maybe not.  No turning back now.  A little nervous on this street.  A smallish brick building with no windows.  It was #89.  A thick steel bank vault door was set back in from the tired brick.  No window.  On the side were four buzzers.  One marked "Doak" in a a white scrawl.  Isn't this a retail store?  A person opened the door.  Ushered me in through another beaten steel door.  Enter the candy store.

Pigments Oils Mediums.....

The master came out of the back room - office - lab.  Robert Doak has been making paints all his life.  He wanted to know what and how I painted.  From that discussion he made suggestions referring to a massive array of colour swatches.

Samples

It was dangerous in with the candies and the candy man.  I had to steel myself for an escape while I could still afford it.  My wife and daughter arrived, a little shaken.  Together we made it out with a box of paints.  Two whites, a blue, an orange, a green and a standard Cadmium Yellow.  Oh, and a large tube of GOOP.  A secret weapon.

They sailed nicely across the border.  Been into a few of them.  Smooth, powerful pigment load, beautiful to the touch on the brush, beautiful to the eye.  Robert doesn't indicate specifically what is in his paints.  Top quality materials and a few surprises.  Next for the GOOP, maybe this afternoon.

Designing Your Palette

What pigments should you put on your palette?  Depends.  Lets suppose you want to paint landscapes from life.  In this scenario you are faced with a time factor as light shifts and moves.  So, it might help you to have a short palette to eliminate some of the decisions.  In that case a triad of primary colours plus white might make sense.  Such a palette might be Cadmium Yellow Light, Alizarin, Cobalt, and Titanium White.

Practical Colour Wheel

This version of a colour wheel shows specific pigments, a value scale, on a mid value grey.

Here is the palette suggested above showing how to mix yellow ochre (with the addition of white).

Yellow Ochre "greyed yellow"

So, yellow ochre is a tertiary colour.  It is an earth colour or a greyed yellow, made from the three primary colours here (lots of yellow, some red and a little blue).  If you use Alizarin and Cadmium Yellow Light in a mixture to get an Orange, the colour achieved would lie along the line between those two pigments - inside the circle. The pure pigments are shown on the perimeter.  That is, the orange mixed is not as chromatic as an orange pigment - it lies in the greyed area just like the Yellow Ochre.  This is not so bad if you are painting the landscape with its muted (less chroma) colours.  However, if you want more chroma, you should add pigments on the perimeter of the wheel (not tertiary or earth colours) to your palette.  If you want a high chromatic painting you would add all of the pigments and others not mentioned.

Of course it can be much more complicated if you wish.  I have not mentioned the modern pigments.  For me I use what I have found works for me, and leave a spot or two for guest pigments on occasion.

I typically use Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange or Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin, Mineral Violet, Ultramarine, Cobalt, and Viridian.  

The Viridian is a great base for greens and makes rich greys.

The mineral Violet is a weak mixing colour used in greys and greens.  Together with Viridian it makes a silvery grey.

The palette has a cool and a warm of the primaries.  This is good for realizing cool and warm temperature passages.

Guest pigments might include Cobalt Violet, Permanent Rose, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Red Middle etc.

To reduce mixing, I often use Transparent Red Oxide, and yellow Ochre.

When speed is important I drop a few pigments.

I have painted with the Zorn Palette and other short palettes.  They are great experiences.  Inevitably I like more chroma available. 

You should lay out your palette the same each time.  In poor light you can reach and get the pigment you need.