Posts Tagged ‘Oil Paintings’
Diane
On Saturday, I leave Paradise for climes further north. I’ll have lunch with sis and family and stay the night with bro and wife before I head for Durham, NC, arriving there Monday afternoon sometime.
In Durham, I have a plein air painter friend, Diane, whom I’ve known for a few years now. We were both students of Cassandra James, Austin, TX, painter, and teacher at Ringling School of Art and Design and the summer camps where Diane and I met. At this point Cassandra is ill and no longer teaches, but we still visit with her – Diane more often than I.
It will be good to see my friend again. She wants to show me her area and I am eager to see it as I am not acquainted with that area. Then it will be really nice to be back in Maryland for the summer.
Drawing Ellipses
One shape that appears often to the oil painter of still lifes is the ellipse. Anytime a bowl, cup, bottle or anything cylindrical, spherical or half spherical is involved, an ellipse is to be painted.
The following rules apply only to vertical cylinders. First, establish your eye level. The ellipse nearest our eye level is the flattest, or the most closed. The further the ellipse is from eye level, the more open or round it is. If your eye is nearest the opening of a bottle, the ellipse describing that opening is very flat and the ellipse describing the bottom of the bottle is the most open. The openness of other ellipses, such as a salt shaker on its side, depends on the angle from which they are viewed.
Drawing a good ellipse takes practice. An ellipse is absolutely symmetrical and the ends are never pointed. You could place the ellipse within a rectangle, keeping in mind that an ellipse is always divisible into four equal quadrants. However, drawing a good ellipse comes only with a lot of practice.
Drawing Through
Being able to draw well is an essential tool not only for the oil painter, but for artists of all genres. If the parts of our paintings are not in proportion, the painting does not look believable.
One of the best ways to create a convincing three-dimensional figure is by using a method called “drawing through” in which you act as though the object is transparent. You draw not only what is seen, but also what is unseen. In this way you capture the underlying structure and achieve a sense of volume and depth in space.
In drawing a silo, you would draw not only the top ellipse, but also lightly sketch the center and bottom ones as well. If you were drawing a barn, you would imagine it as a cube or box and lightly draw through all 6 sides. It is a simple way to prevent a flattened silo or a lopsided barn.
The Law of Opposites
Color theory for oil painters is a very complex subject, but one of the most important parts of it is the law of opposites that relates to color temperature. On a sunny day, objects in the sun are a warm color, and the shadows are cool. On a cloudy day, objects are cool and the shadows are warm.
This is easier to say than to master because the local color of objects is involved. So although grass in sunlight and grass in shadow are both green, one is a warm green and the other a cool green. Bill Parks, a noted teacher, once said, “As long as you have the temperature right, you can get away with almost anything.” However, it may take a few years to really understand how right he was.
The Basket List
In his twice-weekly newsletter, Canadian landscape painter, Robert Genn, says he is making a “basket list.” Not a “bucket list” of things he wants to do before he kicks the bucket, he is making a “basket list” of things he wants to try in his work. It can be made on the run in a sketchbook of observations related to nature or painterly ideas or motifs or techniques.
Here are a few of his: Foreground snow interspersed with patches of bare ground with green shoots sprouting. High-key green. A moldering stone-based barn with horizontal and vertical boards in a variety of grays. Texture and impasto. The casual use of scumble to add freshness and “think-on-your-feet” sincerity. Be Velasquez.
While words are useful, a quick drawing is also helpful. No matter how pedestrian the observations seem, we need to make them our own. It’s one of the great principles of making art: “Name it and claim it,” “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” (Jack London)
ECHO
For the past three years, each winter when I came to Florida, I went to Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) and did oil paintings of their banana trees. They are such cool trees! ECHO is a wonderful organization. The people there, very many volunteers, do research on all kinds of soil mixtures, sand to clay, and terrains, desert to highlands. They grow seeds for developing nations and invent low cost and natural ways of enriching the soil, irrigating, and solving other problems.
This winter, I didn’t arrive until December and just in time to witness two devastating frosts that ruined the orange and vegetable crops of Florida. It ruined the large banana trees, too , but always a sprout remained. When I was at ECHO today, those sprouts had grown and looked good, but they’ll look better next November when I return. In the meantime, the small painting that I made last year, I brought home from a gallery where it was for sale, and I think I’ll donate it to ECHO. I’m sure they would like to include it in one of their money making projects.
The End of an Era
Today I put on the finishing touches to “Aspens” that I thought was already completed. Also, several paintings were scheduled to be photographed. That happened, too. Tonight I edited them and “Aspens” is included in today’s post.
My time here is getting short. Exactly 2 weeks from today, Thelma returns to Illinois and I will leave shortly thereafter for Maryland. In the meantime we plan to do at least one more plein air painting next week at the Edison Estate. And soon the tax man cometh and I’d better be prepared!
Class Today
Today was my last “Paint Your Passion” class. We began as usual with a critique of work we had completed since last class. I took a painting of aspens and three oil paintings that I had started a while ago and wanted suggestions from Teacher as to how to finish. I had thought the painting of the aspens was finished, but as soon as teacher held it up, I realized I had not completed a bit in one corner. I did appreciate the help with the other three, though.
Teacher brought pictures of landscapes as suggestions for today’s paintings. A few weeks ago she had brought a picture of a painting by Wolf Kahn which I had had copied and brought to paint today. Wolf Kahn is one of my favorite artists and you can see several of his paintings on his web site at http://www.wolfkahn.com . He sometimes paints his tree trunks blue!
Maker’s Blinders
Canadian artist, Robert Genn, is in Santa Fe but he still receives email from his readers. One wrote this week saying he had “Maker’s blinders.” He sees only one part of his oil painting even though other parts might be substandard – as if he had on blinders.
Genn replied that this is a common malady. It’s human nature to pay attention to what we do well and avoid what we don’t. Here are some tips to avoid that problem: 1) See the “big picture” – the whole work as it might play out, perhaps in many outcomes, 2) See the “whole meaning” of the work so that one part will not distract from the main thought, 3) Regularly refresh and reboot your image-in-progress. Walk away and leave your work for a while, 4) Give yourself creative power over all. When you begin to see yourself not as a technician, but as a master “auteur,” you begin to be one. Don’t consult with someone else. Your consultant may have blinders on also.
Art Class, Again
Today was our fourth “Paint Your Passion” class. Next week is our last one. I like this class so much because Teacher always gives us something to think about. Today she brought pictures of still lifes, dining situations and other scenes inside the home. If a student is not interested in her subject, the student can work on whatever she likes.
At the beginning critique we each showed work we had completed since last week. I had chosen a photo of a plein air painter painting the landscape because it reminded me of a former teacher. My painting needed more green in the shrubbery as I had made it only brown so I corrected that first.
I am not interested in painting still life or any kind of construction or buildings. I had brought a tiny photo of some colorful landscape I liked, so went to the office, had it enlarged and began work on that. I’ll enjoy working on that for next time.