Painting Demo Part II
10 12 2005I begin to block in some of the color here, laying in the foreground so that I can gauge the values and temperature of the rest of the color. I want to emphasize these wonderful olive trees and the sloping hill. The olive trees are so distinctive in the Tuscan countryside. At different distances and in different light they take on shades of green, silver, and even blue/violet. But back to the painting; the ground is too dark. The light from the sky is shining directly on the places that are not in shadow from the trees, so I will try to bring out some more highlights as I progress with the painting.
Here I am giving a little more form to the foreground trees, and I lay down the color for where I will show some of the bare land. All of the ground is still too dark in my opinion, but I begin to lighten it up a little.
Blocking in more of the painting, the distance is starting to take shape. I lay in very cool colors in the far distance, using blues and cool greens. In general warm colors come forward and cool colors recede, so I will start with relatively cooler, lighter colors in the distance and stronger, warmer colors as the eye moves forward in the painting. I still use slightly darker blues, (ultramarine, plus a dab of cad red light and white/ or ultramarine plus a dab each of cad. orange and alizarin crimson and white) even in the middle ground, as I can always add more local color later. I’ve also lightened up the ochre ground colors throughout the painting, which I think looks better and more convincing.
I start to feel more comfortable once the canvas is covered with paint and there aren’t any unaddressed areas. Even if the value or color isn’t quite right, it helps me to “see” the painting better if I can have everything more or less laid out. I have now indicated the buildings, more of the distant trees, and have added detail to the olive trees in the foreground, including giving them some more shadow areas. As I have worked in more color, you can see I’ve painted out some of the tree trunks and branches that were indicated before, so I will have to restate them again at some point.
As you can see, this is very much a push and pull exercise for me. Some artists start with the distance and work forward, and I used to try and do that too, but I always tend to want to lay in some of the foreground so that I can better determine what the distance will need.
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Jennifer
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Hi Jennifer,
Do you have a mixing formula for the tile roofs in Italy? I’ve been making it up as I go along, but now that I’m living here in Florence I thought I should try to nail this. I’ve been using a cad red/titanium/ochre combo that looks decent. Any suggestions? When’s your next trip to Tuscany? Are you giving any workshops here?
Jerry Palmer
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for you comments! I tend to mix a number of terra cotta roof tile combinations, depending on what the light is doing to them at the time. For a bold terra cotta, you could try Indian yellow/alizarin crimson/touch of white. This is a strong mixture. You can “brown it down” by adding some Ultramarine blue (just a little). I also use cad red/ white/ and a touch of raw sienna (close to your yellow ochre) for when the light glints off of those tiles. It is amazing how light those tiles can look, when the plane of the roof is sloping just enough to catch a bunch of sun. Even a cad red/white combo can look “correct” in some circumstances. I think If you get the value right your color falls in line.
As to your 2nd question… We just got back from Italy in June, so probably spring or summer of ‘07 would be the next earliest trip. Lucky you to be living in my all time favorite city! I’d love to give a workshop in your neck of the woods. In fact I am searching for the right venue. Where 6 or more are gathered, a workshop could be formed, so keep that in mind! I will let you know what develops from my end too.
Best wishes and happy painting!
-Jennifer
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Hi Jennifer, I am an art school student here in San Francisco,currently studying landscape painting. do you have any tips for what colors and how to paint clouds and skies? They definetly are not just white.Any plans to come out here and do a workshop in the san Francisco area. we would love to have you!
Hi Karen,
You are right, skies and clouds have a lot more color in them than just the obvious blue and white. To me, skies are one of the great joys of landscape painting. And as with everything else, the color cast is very much dependant on the atmosphere, time of day, and reflected light. That’s why it’s so hard to answer seemingly simple questions like yours. Any kind of answer will seem almost formulaic if not considered within the context of the nature of the light.
Now that I’ve gotten that major disclaimer out of the way, you might wish to play with your cloud color by adding a very small touch of cad. red light or cad. orange mixed in with your white . The light sides of clouds are visible due to the sunlight, so they will always have some warmth in them if it is a sunny day. Almost all elements in nature that have a local color of white have some kind of color cast to them. Pure white straight from the tube is usually too cool and too strong to look right in relationship to the other colors on your canvas.
P.S. Would love to visit San Francisco again. It’s one of my all-time favorite cities. If I could find a school or organization that would host a workshop of mine out there, I’d definitely come. Let the workshop organizers know you’re interested in my classes, and maybe we can make it happen! Thanks for your interest.