Thursday, July 24, 2014

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.

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