Skip to main content

Painting outdoors

When      the weather is perfect - not too hot, not too cold, and dry - I enjoy taking my canvas outside to paint in my garden. 

But it's not a simple or easy proposition, even with perfect weather. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Comfort: Figure out a set up with chair, easel, and paints that is comfortable. Uncontrollable factors include heat, wind, water, bugs, and passers-by. If you need to carry your equipment in to a site, keep it as simple as possible.

2. Lighting: The sun is your lighting, and the subject and all the value relationships change rapidly with the angle of the light and the reflections or cover of clouds. The three issues with light are the angle of lighting across the landscape, the color of light on the landscape and page, and the intensity of light in your eyes; you will need to paint during the same hour every day in order to have somewhat consistent light, and wear a hat to prevent glare.

3. Location: Be sure to spend a short time walking around the location, absorbing the scene until you have found something that appeals to you enough to get started. The use of a viewfinder at this point can be vital in narrowing the field of vision to help find the right subject.

4. Simplification is an important ability when painting outdoors, because the view is so complex. You're immersed in the subject. You're consumed by the air and the movement, and the expanse. It's helpful to choose a concept, and describe it in one sentence, before you start painting. That is, describe the essential aspect of the view that you want to capture. Repeating this brief definition as you work helps to keep you from getting overwhelmed and derailed.

Three of my favorite paintings were started outside, then finished with photographs:





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paint Application and Mark-Making

We've   been talking about brushwork and palette knives, and I want to talk a little about paint application and mark-making. Paint can be applied with so many different tools. We all started out with finger painting, and brushes seem to be an extension of our fingers, but you can put paint onto a ground with a palette knife, old credit card, sponge, roller, etc. And besides the tools you use, you have options with the techniques. I took the following list of paint application techniques from a  Craftsy  Post: 1. Dry brushing: This is where you scrub layers of colors on using small amounts of paint. 2. Washing: This is when you apply a thin layer of diluted paint over the colors already applied. The thin veil of color allows the colors underneath to still shine through. 3. Dabbing: For adding texture. Apply thick paint with a stiff bristle brush or a sponge, with a pouncing motion or with quick dabs. Dabbing can be done in multiple layers to build depth. 4. Detailing: Thi...
Post a Comment
Read more

January insights

Our  assignments last week led us on a rich dialogue! We looked at paintings that inspired you in the New Year.  I was impressed with your choices, and inspired in turn.  After our discussion I set some homework for you: Tami:  1. Work on brush handling. Check out the step by step painting web site for some exercises to try. (She also has a buying guide if you ant to get any new brushes.) 2. Your goal is to finish some of your paintings, so please choose the one you want to work on and be prepared to work on it! Becky:   1. Explore Red.  One of your choices for inspiration was this one, below. Your assignment is to buy some new tubes of red and paint splotches of many different mixtures of red, taking some notes,  and make a list or a chart of colors you like best so you can begin to incorporate them into your work. 2. Bring a photo of a landscape that means something to you, and be prepared to riff on it in an abstract way. Abstract Landsca...
Post a Comment
Read more

Composition and Principles of Design

Composition is the way you arrange the parts of your picture on the page. Artists work to arrange the parts (lines, shapes, colors, and textures) on the page so that they will grab the viewer’s attention and keep the eye moving all around.  When you begin to work with composition you step away from rendering exactly what you see, and begin to make artistic decisions about what you want to express, and how. The process of composing the picture is called design , a process of selection, simplification, distortion, and rearranging.  Artists use "principles of design" to make decisions about how to arrange the parts of a drawing. Some of these include: Variety:  Using different shapes, lines, colors, and textures to create interest. Harmony: Using similar shapes, lines, colors, and textures to help the design hold together.  Unity:  Organizing the parts of a design so they work together.  Simplicity: Eliminating parts in order to create better unity. Balan...
Post a Comment
Read more