Resolving a Painting

Here is one for you.  After sitting back and reviewing this painting I found a few things that did not make sense.

Piles of It, 8x10, Oil on Canvas on Board

This was done on an overcast day.  So, the chroma and the values do not add up.  I slid my value checker over it just to make sure the colours weren't deceiving my eye.  So I went on to change these to make the painting "read" more consistently.  By the way, on site the barn roof was the lightest value by a fair amount.  So that is key.  The Wolf Kahn colours provided their own challenge.

Point is that I see many examples of such unresolved paintings proudly hanging on walls.  Fortunately many people fail to see them.  But they will as they review the painting often enough.  Here are some common examples.

The light coming from 2 sources for the sun - happens plein air quite often

Reflections with no shadows on light day

Values obviously wrong, say back to front

Reflections incorrectly rendered - painting what you think

Linear perspective way off

Lack of aerial perspective

Inconsistent edges

Organic shapes not organic

Chroma inconsistent with position in space

Brush and knife strokes inconsistent in space

Many paintings in one

There are a host of others.  Before the last touches are done a review of these concept breakers needs to happen.  With my plein air limit of an hour and a half I have to make this happen near the middle of the time limit, not back in the studio.  Fun!

Drawing You Say

It was perfect.  Shade, a picnic table, moderate temperature, sunshine.  a high vantage point.  Well, not exactly.  Couldn't see the subject through the big Maple tree.  So I got some exercise in sneaking and returning to sit and draw.  Have to sit these days.

High Above the Harbour, Lunenburg

Now, I do a fair amount of drawing.  I try to get it mostly right even though it is not usually my primary concern.  During the sketch and subsequent hour of painting here I know something was pretty wrong.  Didn't have time or strength to correct on site.  After all, its probably mostly right (couldn't see the subject but you know).

After I got home I had to do some investigation.  Here is the gist of what I found.

Drawing Check - Simple

Even without seeing the subject I knew the areas that were probably wrong.  Easy to correct on the second wet.  My constant drawing at least warned me.

Going Light

So between treatments I'm going east to paint, relax, and explore, 8 days.  Gotta go light.  Can't walk too far and have to sit to paint.  Oh well, do what you gotta do.  Cut the chair, shorten the paint supply etc.  Here is my total kit.

About 4 pounds

Roll of paper towels, 5 brushes in protective tube (Flat Hogs Bristle, #4,#6,#8x2,#12), dippers to hold mineral spirits for cleaning, palette knife, small bottle mineral spirits, pencil, grey view finder, sketch book, 10 canvas boards in two sizes - 8x10, 11x14.  Six tubes of paint.  And my Traveller paint box and extension by Good Omen.  Works great!

Top row are my primaries for this trip;

Alizarin Crimson - RGH Paint

Cad Yellow Medium - Blue Ridge Paint

Ultramarine Blue - Michael Harding Paint

These paints limit my high Chroma colour mask.  Landscape is primarily low chroma.

These paints will broaden the high chroma colour mask.  I can always dull them down.

Cadmium Orange Deep - Blue Ridge Paint

Viridian - Rembrandt -  I use this weak tinting green as another blue, mix with ultramarine.

I start my palette with the primaries.  If I need more cool colour I add the viridian - beauty greys with alizarin.  If I need more warm add the cad orange deep - beauty greys with ultramarine.

Titanium White - Michael Harding Paint

Last Minute Decisions

I decided to replace the Cad yellow with the less intense Yellow Ochre also by Blue Ridge. Save me some mixing and I don't expect to see much intense yellow.  Then I decided to take this travel tripod that folds up like a robot.  Adds a couple of pounds.

Soon see how all this works.

With the Sun

I have recently been painting and talking "contre jour".  Setting up looking into the sun with the palette in shade.  So here is a painting set up with the sun behind me.  Still with shade on the palette so I'm in the shade staying cool.  At this time of day I have max an hour to catch one lighting type without chasing and having several paintings in one.  The solution to that problem is to do several paintings in a row.  If you can paint "what you see" you will have a series of colour studies as the light changes - a la Monet.

Evans Wash Day, 8x10, Oil on Canvas on Board

This photo is a bit rich.

Closer

This is closer to what I saw and painted most of the time.  The top photo is more what it looked like as a thin cloud cover moved in at the end of our time.  

You will notice how there is more colour with lower light - top.  The bright light washes out some of the colour.  So, is the painting about colour or light?  

Contre jour would increase the colour and contrast considerably.

The Poster for Planning the Painting.

Ted Seth Jacobs taught my friend artist Denis Hopkins.  One of the preparatory tools he taught was the POSTER.  Denis did a demonstration of it under pressure.  Here is the bare bones of it.  It is significantly different from info on the Google search.  Different even from Tony Ryder who was taught by Seth.

Take from this what you may.  It is an indirect painting tool.  However I can see it as a good teaching and training exercise.

The main ideas are;

- an abstract approach - no drawing

- simplification to the extreme

- values first concern

- colour value second concern

- start with the darkest dark, reserve the accent value

- make a simple mark with the dark chosen and mixed (start with the colour nearest the value and colour on your palette

- adjust for value and colour, compare, squint... as many times as required to be right

- take the shape next to the darkest dale, make a simple mark ( limit two vaues per shape)

- compare value and colour and adjust as needed before moving to the next shape

- leave no space between marks

- adjust the second mark, value and colour

- continue until all shapes are accounted for and have the correct compared value and colours

- add accents in the same manner

- add any hi lites

Here is how it looked;

Palette - variety to make the exercise easier

The Subject Setup (Pardon the accidental flash)

Lit From Two Sides - not required

Comparing Values and Colour - opera anyone?

Tea Pot Bottom and Top Marks

Background Marks

Foreground Marks

Fruit Marks

Hi Lites and Accents

Final Adjustments - no, not a painting

Since you are adjusting value and value colour on the fly you immediately see errors.  In the end you can make judgements about the painting to follow, or whether the basic concept has been fulfilled or not.  You can judge the colour scheme and design your palette.  You may choose to abandon the project or see several paintings.  It is not intended to be a painting but painting lessons are contained in it.  You will have to figure out how to use it in figurative work, landscape etc.

If you are more a direct painter this can help tune your eye.  All good.

Back to Plein Air

My teacher/mentor/friend informed me today that we have been painting together outside for 22 years.  Today was another glorious day.  

I was so fortunate to get my start in art with someone who actually knew what he was doing. The next 20+ experiences were dismal save for 3 people who were able to build on my base.

When I started I was told that I had to learn to "see".  Had trouble with that but it turned out to be so right.  I was to paint from life to learn to do that.  That meant plein air, still life and figure drawing and painting.  A number of challenges soon proved that I "thought I was seeing", but really I was "painting what I thought".  Took a lot of challenges and work to start to understand what Mother Nature was offering.  Been painting plein air in all seasons ever since.  It was years before I saw another plein air painter.

Today was a typical day at the office.  "You want to paint?" was all it took to get out the usuals.  Then we chose a spot and;

- found some shade

Like This

Sun Creep

- set up

- decided on what and how to paint 

- put down paint for an hour and a half max - light had changed to a new painting

- shut down and cleaned up

- had a chat about what we had done, why, and what we learned

- decided on next session

So simple.  So enjoyable.  So instructive.  

Now Plein Air has been taken to Event Status.  A totally different emphasis.  Some are connected to charities, some are learning oriented, some are invitational.  Most stroke the ego and get "paintings" shown with the chance of a sale.  Here are some central themes I see.

- organizations, presidents, vice presidents, and red tape

- memberships

- fees

- mugs, caps, flags

- permission by entry form

- contests

- "judges"

- prizes

I'll be out there as often as I can using the simple route.

Ruins of Belfountain, 11x14, Oil on Canvas, on Board

Outside At LAst

After painting from photos and developing a strategy to do it I finally got outside this week - twice yet!  Two smalls, a bit of photo reference and then a local search for some real close spots in keeping with my energy level.  All good.  What can be better than painting with friends and your mentor of 20 years?  Seeing, smelling, hearing, envisioning.  It can't get better for me.

On the second venture I arrived on site with no paint.  Quite a surprise pack for the concept about to be devised.  Out plopped Permanent Red, Cadmium Lemon Yellow, and Ultramarine Blue Deep, a blob of Titanium White.  Mixed a violet to see what I had - quite grey.  Perfect.  But my lightener surprised me.  The Lemon Yellow was much higher tinting strength than I expected so a large portion of the white ended up there.  Between this exploration and my thumbnail and concept thought I chewed up a lot of my allotted time.  So here is the first wet and a bit more.  Photo clipped off quite a bit......

Mississauga Road Extreme, 8x10, Oil on Canvas on Board

I have found the "one thing a day" priority approach limiting but I can only do so much.  Family and Friends, Health Care, painting and related, then whatever pops into view.  Till next time.......

Value of Chroma

I looked at my palette the other day and saw a few piles of various greys scraped from the previous day.  From my recent trip to Niagara on the Lake in ominous grey weather - breaking, I decided to paint using just these greys and a new deposit of titanium white.

Red, Blue, and Yellow Grey

None of these piles was mixed thoroughly and that gives me even more choice.  Each of these piles is cut way down in chroma - not bright like a cadmium red for example.  I chose a board with a cool toned surface and began to paint - darks, then lights and mid tones.

These paintings are dark in line with the the concept.  But it is interesting to see mostly low chroma against a little bit of higher chroma.  But that higher chroma is still far from high.  That is how it is ket back in space.

Fort Niagara Looming, 8x10, Oil on Board

Shark Launch, 11x14, Oil on Canvas on Board

First boat on the water even in all that grey.  So, waste not!  Paint on.

Tech Insight on White

I read the blog Painting Stuff to Look Like Stuff.  Kate stone ran an interesting piece on whites.  As for me I use Rembrandt Titanium White, and a variety of Lead Whites by the likes of Blue Ridge.  I also had RGH blend me some Lead White with Safflower Oil.  SLOOOOW drying but beauty.

When you look below you will see why I have had to change my storage method for my lead white panels.  Keep 'em sunny side up.

Pearly Whites

Being one of those people who gets a bug up their ass and pursues a random project to the eighty percent mark before suddenly dropping it to pursue something else, spring cleaning is an especially interesting time of year for me.  It's when I uncover a half-finished, gender-neutral baby blanket made out of hypoallergenic wool; a perfectly organized tupperware box full of every size and shape of envelope that I could possibly ever need, unopened and forgotten; and fourteen separate notebooks and moleskines with the first ten pages filled out with really fascinating objectives: the properties and chemical structure of drying oils (riveting!), quotations about money (wow!), flowers and vegetables I want to plant (I even bore myself).  I also found... my old colour swatches!  Back from when I bought tubes of paint like they were five cent candies and then meticulously tabulated them in my precious, precious binder.

I'm going to throw it all out because I'm so over being a nerd and I've since blossomed into a sophisticated and carefree artiste who doesn't even read the pigment label anymore.  But before I do, take a look at these whites:

This advanced yellowing of something that should be white reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my dental plaque on it.

The key is as follows, listing brand, colour name, pigment, and binder:

A. Williamsburg, Titanium White, PW 6, linseed oil

B. Winsor & Newton, Titanium White, PW 6 and PW 4, safflower oil

C. Lefranc & Bourgeois, Titanium White, PW 6, soybean oil

D. Old Holland, Titanium White, PW 6, binder unknown because that's how Old Holland rolls

E. Winsor & Newton, Cremnitz White, PW 1, safflower oil

F. Gamblin, Flake White Replacement, PW 6 and PW 4, alkali refined linseed oil

G. Old Holland, Cremnitz White, PW 1, unknown

H. Rembrandt-Talens, Titanium White, unknown, unknown

All of these whites were tucked away in this binder in a box for the past several years, so the yellowing is quite exaggerated.  If these paints had been used in a painting and left on a wall where there was some light, it wouldn't be this bad.  But still.  It's worth thanking your lucky stars you didn't paint your masterpiece with Old Holland Cremnitz White.  I mean, you didn't, did you?

Word to the wise, if you're looking for a titanium white to use, look for something that says PW 6 only (no PW 4--that's zinc) and preferably a safflower or a soybean oil.  Good luck.

Some Processes from Adapting to new Conditions

At this stage I seem to be capable of a 2 hour studio session 4 times a week.  In order to deal with this I have taken to a few changes in my typical process.  Interestingly this seems to have clarified my concept building.

• Limit to one and one half hours painting - the study is done at that time.  This fixes a light condition.  So, as I get stronger I plan to do a series of studies en plein air.  For studio painting I prefer to work from the plen air studies and will try a series of short sessions for each work.
• Using a short palette.  Three primaries plus white plus a warm or a cool as needed for that session.  In the studio I often add a couple of colours to fill out the colour mask.
• Using greys mixed from the previous painting session.  These are unique and save me painting time.
• Painting on a dry coloured ground.  A time saver that I expect will lead to wet coloured ground as in the past and working from white primed canvas.
• Use of a round brush.  Variety to the feel.  I tend to use this early as I scrub in the composition.  I tend to mass instead of draw, but I use a variety of starts.
• Scraping and tonking to remove paint, then to paint over again.  A different look and feel.
• Use my wife's round hair curling brush as I come out of the shower.  Because I can.
• Painting contre jour.  I have tended to do this in the past but now it seems more logical as I paint a short series with the light moving.
• Painting small in the plein air environment.  Time saver.

 Living on the Seine, 12x16, Oil on Canvas on Board

I am experiencing trouble finding reference material since I am not yet going outside.  Believe it or not, I can't deal with the cold I once loved.  So I have sketched in pencil from the car and tried photo reference from trips I have taken.  Here I am short on remembering the real situation and the concept that moved me to snap the photo.  Photos are so limited.  

We will see how this evolves.  In the mean time enjoy!

Honfleur Inner Harbour, 12x16, Oil on Canvas on Board

What, So What, Now What

I have been pushing paint now for 4 weeks after my down time.  On advice from my teacher I kept expectations low starting with some mixing exercises.  Good thing.  My ability to get what I wanted done was pretty poor.  However, I set up each exercise to learn something and get some hours in on the easel.  I started at 45 minutes and am now at 2 hours a session.  As I progressed I turned to painting on scraped back images, then to painting life from my studio window, and now I have been using photo reference.  Desperate to get outside for real studies, I think I'll keep the painting sessions to an hour and a half max.  As I get stronger maybe multiple sessions in a day recording the light condition each time.  I used to paint 6 - 7 days a week.  Now maybe 4 with reading and study most every day for at least a few minutes.

So these are my observations to date.

Concept - I have been pretty good at developing these and getting a vision before painting. This really helps with the limited painting time.  I use multiple small drawings with notes to solidify the vision.

Seeing - lost most of this to begin with.  Painting from life has helped recover some ability.  I am going to begin life drawing next week to help with this before going outside.  If you can't see you tend to slip into painting what you think.

Execution - While having a decent concept, I had trouble mixing and making decisions when I started back.  See it but can't do it!  This has improved with time on the easel.  My signature is still pretty wiggly so I have trouble laying in intricate patches of paint.  Paint on, and this should improve.

Feeling the paint - This is returning as I paint more.  I am a tactile person so this is important to me.  As David Leffel says "you don't pint with a brush, you paint with paint".

Drawing - Use it or lose it.  I draw as part of my concept development so this is helping as will the life drawing.

Composition, shapes - I'm aware of these and drawing is helping here.

Values - Pretty bad to start with especially using colour but using a value scale is helping recover this skill.

Colour - Recovering this sensitivity as I go.  I have a good understanding of the theory and this helps.  As I improve seeing I continue to refine colour as part of my concept.

Paint Quality - With poor dexterity in the beginning this was a problem.  Just painting and paying more attention to it is helping.

Edges -  If you can't see...  So paint on.

I am planning to paint more in the studio.  I'll do studio paintings from colour studies done on location wherever I can.  After twenty years of painting standing I have to face the reality that I'm going to have to sit considerably more.  So I'm looking for a substantial easel that will augment this.  I'm now set for light weight travel equipment.  Love the GoodOmen Travel Mate box.

Enter the Studio

Gloucester Trawler from Reference

Comeback 10, Bo Diddley and the Cool Palette

Bo Diddley is crazy, Bo Diddley is sick, Bo Diddley is a lunatic thumps in the studio.  Helps to hone the concept this morning.  Hard as it is to believe, I'm going to use photo reference today.  The image is from a trip to Maine painting along the coast in 2011.  At least I was there painting, but the colours in this image I forget since I didn't paint it.  Can't wait to be able to get outside to collect reference studies from life.  Anyway I decided to use  the cool 4 clour palette.  So I removed the Cad Orange Fonce and replaced it with Viridian (KAMA) and I decided to use Cremnitz White ground in Safflower that I had RGH make for me.  This is beautiful, slow drying, somewhat transparent white - so you use a lot.  I can mix blues (from a cobalt to turquoise) and violets using the Viridian.  They will be somewhat grey.  I get a range of cold greys using Viridian and Alizarin.

Semi Neutrals and Greys Along the Bottom

The subject was dominant blue/violet and yellow.  So the palette should work.  My concept included putting strokes in place and leaving them to let the viewer know that this is a painting.  I spent an hour after setting up the palette and the board etc.

The Start

I changed my start back more to massing in.  Instead of drawing with the brush I use a big brush and put in the shapes in the right general value.  With practice and using a thumbnail to establish the composition and the value shapes this saves a lot of time and lets you paint instead of painting inside the lines.  You can see here where I wiped the thick paint off some background shapes.  This is contre jour so values are critical.  I am continuing to paint dry brush.  I paint wet into wet using relatively thick paint then going thicker where the concept dictates.

Kennybunk, 8x10, Oil on Canvas on Board

Interesting what can be done with 4 colours and some greys from the last painting session. I find the greys quite useful since they are already mixed (unique greys).  So I am trying to keep mixing up warm and cool greys from each painting session.

Comeback 9, More from Concept On

I decided to paint the same scene at different times of day.  Keeping the painting time to an hour assures an almost consistent light condition.  It also fits my current state.

These were all done from the same thumbnail sketch, using the same palette (the warm version with Alizarin, Cad Yellow Light, Ultramarine plus Cad Orange Fonce).  Again I added a round bristle brush in addition to the usual bristle flats.  To repeat the process, I used a pre coloured ground at mid value.  A combination of Ultramaring Blue and Orange Fonce.  These act as the mid tones if you establish the darks, then the lights.  The image comes in quickly.

Adding Coloured Ground - Old Greys in Foreground

For these I have been letting the ground dry.  I usually establish the coloured ground on the spot letting the scene dictate the colour of the ground, then paint wet into wet.

Establishing the Darks

Establishing the Lights

The mid tones are already there in the coloured ground.  So bring them to life....  Watch the values in each shape.

Koop from Studio - Late Day, 8x10, Oil on Board

Similarly the Mid Day study was done.

Koop from Studio - Noon, 8x10, Oil on Board

And for your reference the early morning version.  The first in the series.

Koop from Studio - Early Light, 8x10, Oil on Board

You can also see from this exercise how much you can glean from a series.  My concept changed to capture the light conditions.  You can also see how much the light changes.  So, if you are painting from life you have to limit your time or you mix light conditions.

Comeback 8, From Concept to Painting

Painting over scraped back paintings made me so impatient yesterday that I decided to go for a complete process (small) painting.  So I put together my super lightweight painting gear.  The painting was to be a simulated plein air out my studio window.  I can't take the cold yet even though I want to get to the interesting patterns.

My Subject, Sketchbook Ready

The Light Weight Gear

In my condition I need a lightweight arrangement.  So here it is as it has evolved over the past two weeks.  Light weight TravelMate Pochade Box (from GoodOmen - less than 2 pounds), 8x10 panels with coloured ground (Ultramarine Blue plus Red Oxide - one warm grey, one cool grey), 5 tubes paint (Titanium White by Michael Harding, Permanent Alizarin by Gamblin, Permanent Orange by KAMA, Cad Yellow Light by Rembrandt, Ultramarine Blue by Blue Ridge).  The Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Orange are near complements, so good greys easy to get.  Brushes and Palette Knife, Turps cups, Mineral Spirits, Sketch Book and Pencil, Paper Towels.  This is what I would travel with.  Paint off my lap.  On a local plein air day I would also carry a box of paints, brush cleaner pot, tripod, and a variety of panels.

So first a thumbnail.  Not required on my previous paint overs.  Almost forgot about it.  I do my composition work, value study, and colour notation on this.  Note the eye line.

Thumbnail Sketch

Then to choose a panel.

With Value Scale

I thought I would use the warm semi neutral panel.  You can see that it is quite dark compared to the white.  Using this value scale and squinting I can tell that the panel is about value 5.  During painting the mid value already on the panel will act as the mid tones as I establish the darks, then the lights.  This will save me time.  I will only spend a maximum of an hour and a half from setup to clean up.  By then the light will change too much.

Darks First

Even at this stage the coloured ground is acting as the mid tones.  Oh!  And I had to establish the eye line in order to get the perspective.  Here the eye line is between the peaks of the two roof lines.  The bottom roof will display some perspective lines and colour masses.

First Pass Colours

At this stage I began sweating profusely.  In my current condition the energy required by the brain was very evident.  Had to sit it out for a short break.  I can see drawing errors.  Didn't have to concern myself with that when overpainting scraped back paintings.  My hand sure is not steady these days.  Practice, practice.

Time Up

Leave it now.  Time to clean up.  Total time an hour twenty minutes.  Gotta have a nap.   I could go back into this and make modifications.  Better still another study with the new light condition.  Camera does a poor job of the colours.  Oh well.

Compare this shot to the one above.

Better but no cigar.  Koop from Studio 1, 10 to 11:30 am