From Many Shapes, One Shape October 1, 2021

Take a look ate this image. The big, complex shapes would benefit from some simplification. If you painted the whole big shape a mix of the cool blue, the warm red and the warm grass  the result would be a neutral. Don't forget to save the lights. While the overall neutral is still wet touch in the component colors of your simplified shape.Add in the strong darks. Voila!

Here are a couple more images that can be made easier to paint

by simplifying them. Instead of looking for the differences between the shapes, look for the similarities.

 E Plurubus Unum

Sure Thing, Have Faith

 

What color is this barn? I'll bet you can see plenty of yellow, and probably some red, too. How about blue? Look inside the open bays where some farm stuff is visible. Kinda blue, right? The side roofs look bluish too, compared to the warm siding. As painters, we can recognize an opportunity to have some fun with color while also challenging the viewer to see this grey/brown building as a collection of primaries.

What if you allow the primary colors to run together on the paper? Might you see some patches of secondary color; orange, green and purple? If you kept moving the brush around on the paper eventually the whole barn would turn neutral; brown and grey, but just for today let's leave those patches of primary and secondary color boldly asserting themselves. This is where the viewers come in. If they stand back a little the colors  merge optically and display the entire spectrum all at once. The first layer can look like a crazy carnival comprising too many colors, but as long as your brushstrokes are vertical this experiment will not fail! Have faith. When you add those deep, rich darks the whole thing will come together, Guaranteed.                   

                                                                   

September 17 Color and Value are Separate Features of a painting

Which is darker, the Gray sky or the yellow window? Keep in mind that surrounding a color with a much darker one is likely  to have an impact. 

The dark "Frames" are much darker than anything else in the picture. Do you think you can afford to lighten them a little so they don't behave like flat black holes? When I look at the sliding door on the left of the big opening I can see some boards holding it together. To me, they make that dark shape more interesting than flat black would. The door would still be a lot darker than than the yard or the sky.

Take a minute to see where the darks and lights appear in this photo, below.The fir trees are dark when they are framing light areas, and light where they are framing the darks. I could pretend these bold  value relationships were revealed on site, but the truth is I didn't notice them until I  was reviewing the pictures. If you choose to paint this scene remember the questions that will make the light clear and bright; How dark is the shape I'm about to paint? Compared to what? 

For example, the  trees on the hillside are darker than the grass, but lighter than the shadows.

The image below has much in common with the previous one. Layer number one is a carefree treatment of the light trees, rocks and shadows, onto which the more specific darks can be laid.

Choose one or two of these and practice getting the values correct so that you can let go of accuracy in the realm of color. Have fun!

 

Watercolor Homework 9/2/21 How Did You Color in Your Coloring Books

 

This photo has been desaturated. Since we're not at the scene, you are encouraged to color it in using any colors you please. What if you wanted to make a serene version? How about a lively palette? 

How do the colors you choose affect the mood you create? Try deliberately using colors that produce the feeling you want to display, rather than being hap hazard in your selections. See if you can think in color, mentally "coloring in" selections that give you Peacefulness, for example, or Anger. What color do you think the little building really is?

Make more than one version. Can you control the color/mood relationships?

Have fun!

6/10/21 Everyone's Final Homework Exercise of the Term ; As You Like It

 

Traditionally, the final homework of a term is your choice, but a few folks have requested some particular images for inspiration. Maybe you would like to start with this photo, 

Or this close-up. I think I'd leave out the dead tree behind the madrona

 Here are a few studies of similar scenes painted in plein air. 

Perhaps you can put the photo and one of them together.

have fun

 

Intermediate Homework 6/3/21 Neutrals Warm and Cool

 

Here are some images that feature neutral colored shapes. Comparing the shapes in terms of color temperature will reveal how warm or cool they are.

The deck, for example, is much warmer than the shingled wall, but cooler than the yellow bumper. 

Feel free to move things around.

This hay shed may not seem to involve neutrals at first, but if you tried copying it

you would see that with the exception of the tarp, everything in the picture involves all three primaries.

Subtle, i'd say. Watch out for texture. It wants to take over.

Beginning Homework 6/3/21 Do You Have a Plan?

 Here's an image that could progress very simply from light to dark and from general to specific. 

What should you do first? Then what? Is there anything you should do while the first layer is still wet? Is there anything that you should reserve? These are the kinds of questions you might need to answer in advance. 

Having at least a rough idea of the sequence of washes and strokes can make the painting process much simpler. For example, seeing this image for the first time you might be most attracted to the beautiful trees.

It could seem natural to paint them first, until you discover how tricky it is to paint what's in between them. 

Planning ahead needn't always be a complicated process. It can reveal a way to simplify a painting that at first seems very  complicated. Here's a scene that invites just a little planning. You might benefit greatly from a very simple road map:

Light, middle, dark. 

Have some fun with these. Maybe try painting one without a plan. Just dive in and see what happens.