A Studio Demonstration Study for St. Simons
Class April 2006
Workshop Page
This was an exercise I did for a class I taught at St. Simons Island this
Spring.
This scene was in The Chesapeake Bay.
I painted a small 6x8 one morning and the next day painted another larger
piece of the scene. So I had photos of two plein air paintings and one studio
painting to work
from in the studio as I painted this.
My painting notes, more photos and my thoughts about my process ...
Oil Demonstration Step By Step Notes
Click on these pictures to enlargel
Old Village, M
My Pallet for this painting was pretty simple:
Cad Yellow Light, Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine Blue,
Turquoise, Green, Viridian, Burnt Sienna & Titanium White.
I mixed the white into three tints as shown, so I actually had NO white on
my pallet once I started painting.
All were Windsor Newton Artist Oil Colors except for the
Cad Yellow Light which was Gamblin.
This demonstration was done in succession on a
large
piece of birch board that had been primed with white gesso.
I love the way the paint holds it strokes on this kind of board.
I wanted to be able to take this demonstration with me to show my students
at St. Simons, so they could see the successive steps in my process.
Why I painted this scene
I wanted to paint this scene as soon as I saw it because
of
the elements of the light hitting the crab boat just right and the striped
blue
and white awning. The awning just sucked me right in. I just couldn't
resist that.
And I loved the way there was an atmospheric perspective component with
the
distant tree line. It was just a perfect scene. I wish I had a photo of the
scene,
but I don't.
Step One
Using Gridlines to Compose
Step Two
Placing the Lines
I do a light wash drawing in burnt sienna to place my
main lines for the painting.
The bow of the boat has been places on one of the intersections of the grid. It
will
be my focal point, the place where I have some of the thickest strokes and an
area
of great contrast in value, I hope.
Step Three
Massing in the Darks
I continue by massing in with the light wash of burnt
sienna all the "darks" in the
painting, as I am continuing to refine the components into light and shade, I
want
to almost cover the canvas in a tonal effect, depicting the light and
shadow.
I'm painting really thin and only in darks. No white has been used to this
point.
Step Four
Adding Color
Finally it's time to add a bit of color to the shadow
areas. I use a lavender made with
the french ultramarine blue and red and mass in the walls on the shack and the
shadow
parts of the boat. I lay in some darker blue on the top of the awning. As you
can see
my light source was coming from the left.
Step Five
Using Compliments Underneath
I like using red under almost anything
that is green. So in the previous step I had added
some red to the trees, and now I was ready to add some of the greens. I
used sap green
as my base to mix up several different greens to depict the modeling of the
trees. I was
careful to have a variety of greens in my tree lines. Unless I do some premixing
on my
pallet before I start with the greens, I seem to end up with all one tone of
green in
my paintings.
Premixing with my pallet knife
So, taking some time to do the mixing with
a pallet knife makes it so
much easier for me to achieve my desired goal of showing the variety.
The water is still very unrefined, to this point its only the darks laid in in
both
horizontal and vertical strokes, still in thin paint.
Step Six
White Restriction
With most of my darks in and the composition solidified, I started laying in
some of the lighter
colors where the sun light was hitting the awning and the boat. As I mentioned
earlier, about
white. I seem to live on what I call "white restriction". If I
allow myself to have a lot of white on my pallet I don't get the effect I want.
So, I mix up some tints of white, usually about 3-4 piles
of almost white, and from these I make all my lights.
Here I lay in the light as few strokes as possible on the bow of the boat and on
the lighted side
of the awning. I use the turquoise (a really strong color) to make the lighted blue
stripes on
the awning. Then I
add the suggestion of two boats behind my focal point, in cool and warm grays.
Step Seven - Final
One Thick Stroke
I'm ready to finish this "painting" now as I
approach the final grid on the panel.
This is an unusual way to do a demo, but the process delivered the result I
wanted
which was to be able to take a successive painting (really 7 little paintings)
with
me to show the my steps in a manner that could be discussed with other painters.
In this final panel, it's a little bit like icing the cake. The most fun parts
are at the
last of a painting for me. Instead of the sign that was actually on the building
that
had alot of writing on it...I simplified and added the red arrow which acts as
design component that
leads the eye to the focal point of the bow of the boat
and I added a small amount
of light on the two background boats.
On the light on the bow of the main boat,
I always hope that I can achieve that in
one confident stroke. It "holds the eye" and allows the viewer to
enjoy that part of
the painting. Or, at least that's what I hope to achieve.
I added one thick stroke on the focal point of the bow of the
boat
Making Water Look Like Water
It was time to work on the water. I
think of water in terms of being kind
of a "plaid" design usually. Of course there are all kinds of
water, but when I finally
realized that there were both vertical and horizontal components (instead of
just horizontal)
to most kinds of water, it seemed to work out a little better for me.
And usually it's just one or two strokes of
a lighter value that make it all "read" like water.
After the water, I added a few lines to hold
the boat the dock and I was done!
The Loose Strokes add a Painterly Quality
of the strokes and the depiction of light and shadow. I guess it was nice not to
have any pressure of making a painting that's going out to a gallery for sale.
Since this was just done as a teaching aid, it was a lot of fun for me. I
couldn't have done it with out having
either the actual
plein air paintings from this scene or the photos of the paintings work from.
I've worked from those of
this scene several times and may do so again.
See More Boat Paintings Workshop Page