Paintings of France, Italy and Beyond

Here is a painting in my ”Southern Landscape” series that I’ve just completed. This painting shows an early morning Virginia scene of fog rising from the earth on a summer’s day. I painted a smaller similar version of this scene some time ago and when I finished that one I knew I wanted to see it on a larger scale:

“Lifting Fog II”
Oil on Canvas, 24×36″
Click here or on the image for more information

I mentioned the other day that these last paintings I’ve been doing of early evening scenes are lessons in value comparisons. I can say the same for this early morning scene as well. The values are fairly close together in some cases and the value shifts are very subtle, so it can take some doing to differentiate one from another.

 The main thing I do is just to compare, compare, compare. I will mix a big load of color on my palette and dab a bit on the area of canvas that I’m working on, compare that to the other surrounding values before I commit.

Color temperature (warm vs. cool color)  as well as color intensity are other elements that help describe atmospheric perspective in a painting, especially when the values are very close together.

So, for instance, if I want to push a part of the landscape back into the picture plane to add depth, I may cool this area down, gray it down, or use less contrast (or all 3), as I’ve done with the above lines of trees at varying distances.

By a similar notion, if I want to push a part of the landscape forward I may use more contrast, as well as warmer, more local colors as I did in the twilight painting from my previous post.  Of course, with a blazing sunset in the sky all of this gets a little tricky, but that is part of the fun!

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
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Fresh off the easel is another landscape painting of my favorite time of day on the Outer Banks. The setting for this painting is again on Ocracoke Island, on a little inlet that has a small beach where you can watch the sun set.

“Twilight on the Outer Banks”
Oil on Canvas
24×30″
Click here or on the image for more information

I am really enjoying the challenge of these evening paintings. The value ranges are relatively close in most areas of the painting, so I’ve really had to pay attention to the subtle differences in values and how they relate to one another. I’m still limiting my palette, but depending on what I am painting I vary the palette colors somewhat. I’ll write more about what I’m discovering in my next entry.

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
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Fresh off the easel, this painting is of a spectacular sunset we saw on one of our trips to the Outer Banks of North Carolina this summer. It’s Silver Lake Harbor on Ocracoke Island, to be exact. This painting and other recent landscapes will be included in my upcoming show called “Luminosity”.

“Finale”
Oil on Canvas, 24×36″

I’m calling this piece “Finale” (as in “the grand finale”) because, like a finale in a live orchestral performance, sunsets are like nature’s final performance of the day. They never fail to dazzle, and yet no two performances are ever exactly the same.

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
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Recently I gave an interview to a very bright young lady from the UK who was studying my work for an A Levels school project. Here is one of her questions, and the response she inspired:

“I really admire your style of brushwork in your images, especially in  “The Cypress House“, where your strokes around the top of the trees and in the grass make me feel as though the painting is moving. I really like this and wondered why you choose to use this technique in your work?”
-ST

Dear S.T.,

That is a wonderful observation and a great compliment. Thank you! I paint the landscape for several reasons, but mainly because it evokes in me a strong positive emotional response. So when
I’m painting,  I try to convey the emotional energy I feel from the
subjects I paint. There are many ways to express this emotional impact–through use of line and color choices, through composition, and yes, through brushwork (movement), to name a few.

There is movement all around us in nature if one will sit still long enough to observe it. A perfect way to practice this is to go down to the ocean shore and sit on the beach. Just sit and see how much life is moving and teeming all around you that we often are too busy to even notice.

Last week when I vacationed at the beach, I did this very thing. I noted the hundreds upon hundreds of  tiny crabs popping in and out of holes in the sand. I saw thin veils of sand blowing in the wind and subtly changing the shape of the shoreline. Small schools of fish zipped past my feet as I waded in the water. And if I really wanted to watch the world change before my eyes all I’d have to do is watch the sun rise and set. Thousands of miracles take place before our eyes every day if we take the time to notice.

In my paintings, I don’t even attempt to compete with the miracles of nature. But I do try to celebrate them in my own small way. The use of movement in my work is one of the ways I capture these fleeting moments. On a more mundane, formal level I also am aware that showing movement through brushwork and through the composition is a way add interest to a painting and move the viewer’s eye around the work of art. Thanks for your questions and good luck with your project!

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
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I’m baaaaack. Everything about my Cape Hatteras vacation was perfect (weather, house, food, beach). And for the first time in a long time I took a true vacation, where lounging was required and painting was optional. Even when you do something you love for work, you still need to recharge. All work and no play make for less good work overall, in my opinion. HOWEVER….the sunrises were spectacular and I couldn’t resist making at least one attempt at caputuring it en plein air. Here it is:

Hatteras Sunrise
Oil on cavas, 6×8″

For more information, please contact me.

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes
Oil Paintings and Art Prints Online
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