The above sketch of Clermont was my first of the motif. It
looked good at first, but then I decided that it looked boring.
The house was too close to the center of the paper. The big dark tree that ran along
the one side of the house, almost divided the picture down the middle. Now you may say
if I know what I want to change, change it on the painting. This is the wrong
approach. Often when you fix one problem, it will cause another.
The thumb nails only take a few minutes and are the best investment you can make
into your painting.
The second sketch was more to my liking. By moving the house up and to
the right I found the composition much more interesting. The tree along the side
of the house no longer made me feel like the picture was divided. Note: The thumb
nails are not detailed drawings, they are just a quick sketch that let me see the
overall view. I keep the thumb nails small and in the middle if the page. This way I
can expand or crop the picture in any direction. What you cannot see with this
picture, is that there is blank paper all around the sketch. I may start the sketch in
the middle, but it often ends up to one side or another. You do not have this pleasure
with your painting, This is one reason why thumb nails are so helpful. I do know some
painters that work on an oversize canvas. They do this so they can crop the painting
after they completed it. I call this approach crop the crap and think thumb nails
are easier and more professional.
The thumb nail needs to do two things before you try to move on
to your painting. The first thing is it must be a sketch of the simple shapes in your
motif. It must organize these shapes in a pattern you find pleasant. If the
arrangement of shapes does not look nice to you, it most likely won’t look good to
others. Remember you can move the shapes around some and still keep it looking like
the motif. I learned over the years that landscapes change over time. Trying to
make the painting exactly as the subject is a waste of time; trees grow or fall down. People
add or paint sections of a house. Sometimes as I stand at a location painting and the
view will change completely just because of lighting. This reminds me, you should
never paint a subject through noon time. Once the sun goes past noon all the angles of
light change. If you keep painting, you will get some of the shadows wrong and you
break some of the simple rules of nature. Even an inexperienced viewer will see that
something is not right with the painting. If you don’t complete a painting that you
started in the morning by noon, its best to come back another morning.
The second thing the thumb nail needs to establish is the values
of the different shapes. Try to keep the number of values to four or less. The fewer
values you use the stronger the composition. A good painting does not have to be
complex. Most of the time the best paintings will be very simple. For the starter the
four values will be as follows, with “1” being the lightest
and “4” the darkest: 1. The light source (sky), 2. Flat planes (the ground),
3. Slanting planes (Mountains), 4. Upright planes (Trees).
I would like to say one more thing about thumb nails. You would
not try to build a house without a blue print. So don’t try to do a painting without a
thumb nail!
Transferring Sketch To Canvas
Now that you have your thumb nail done, it's easy to
transfer to the larger canvas. I use a mixture of Yellow Ochre and Rose Matter. I
find this mixer is easy to see and it absorbs well into the other paints when applied
over top. At this time I have no medium on my palette, just a cup of paint thinner. I
use this mixture of paint and thinner just to outline the shapes from the sketch onto the white canvas. Yes I said white
canvas. I do not mono tone the canvas as many other painters do. I use the white of
the canvas to add luster to the paint. I feel the light goes through some layers of my
paint and bounce off the white, making some colors illuminate. For some reason the
canvas looks like it has a rose tint. This is not true, but just another example of
how a camera can lie.
The Under Painting
Now it's time for fun. It’s the thing you came to do,
paint. With the under painting the paint is thinned with paint thinner only. Again at this time I still do not have any medium on
my palette, just the paint thinner. I also do not have any white paint on the palette.
Instead I use more thinner and the white of the canvas to lighten. If I need more
contrast I either wipe pigment away from the light area, or darken the dark area with
more pigment. My under painting is very simple. I just fill in the big shapes with
the reverse color. In other words, if an object is blue I paint it orange. The only
exceptions for this are red & orange. The under painting must be warmer then the local
color you are putting on top. With red and orange I curve the color a little
to either a hot violet, or a warm yellow.
To the left you can see the color chart. Note
how I have a red “V” protecting the blue and green. You need to stay out of these two
colors and anything between them; IE. a blue/green. So when I see a red in nature I
always say to myself that it’s a red on the violet side and paint it a warm yellow,
such as yellow ochre. If I see a orange color in nature I always say it’s on the
yellow side and paint it a hot violet. If you try to paint the under painting a cold
blue or green you will only get mud when you apply the local color on top. The reason
I use reverse color as the under painting is because its there.
Every object reflects light. The direct sunlight hitting an object is known as white
light, the mixture of all light. If an object looks blue it reflects most of the blue
light waves and absorbs most of the orange. If you look at something very close you
can see the absorbed color, as a side tone. Most of my students find that they can
see this side tone in the blue sky first.
The first time you try this type of under
paintings you will be surprised at how the sky will jump to life. You will look back
and forth between your painting and the sky and say to yourself, why did I not see that
orange before. From that day on you will see the orange in the blue sky. The longer
you paint using this reverse style of under painting the more colors you will see. You
will see the world through new eyes. I have been using this method for over ten years
and I still see more and more colors. To this day some times I will be painting
something and say why did I not see that color before. When I do a demonstration for
a group of people they first think I am one of those artist that went off the deep end.
They look at my under painting and they say what in the world is this guy doing.
Then I let it sit for a few minutes while I clean off my palette. They all get a good
look at it. Then I lower the boom on them and start placing the local color. Most of
the time the sky is first. The sky sets the values for the rest of the painting and I
like to go for effect. I hear people take in a big breath of air in disbelieve, as the
painting just comes to life. I know if you give this type of under painting a fair chance
you will never go back to the normal mono tone under painting.
Placing The Local Color
Now its time to add a cup of medium and white
paint to the palette. Be careful not to use too much white. I believe white
is a necessity, but can be the death of a painter. Too much white will take away the
rich color you get with oil paint. It will give your painting a washed outlook. With
a big brush, place the local color over the still wet under painting. You will need to
use some medium. Use only enough as required to make the brush flow onto the painting.
I use a simple mixture for my painting medium, which is 50% linseed oil and 50% thinner.
If you use too much medium it will take the luster out of the paint. So if you find
that you have flat or dull spots on your painting, you are using too much medium. It
is very important to place the local color paint and not work it into the under
painting. Do your color mixing on your
palette and not the canvas. If you do too much mixing on the canvas you will either get
mud or lose the effect of the under painting. It is important to just let the under
painting bleed through. Keep wiping the brush clean on a paper towel between strokes.
If you are not sure you have the correct color,
test it with a little dab. Again you go for the big shapes. Fill them in with big
brush stokes. Just try to cover the canvas as fast as you can. Do not try to paint in details at
this time. Only paint in the details you will need to identify the objects on your
painting. As you can see with the picture to the left the only detail I have is a few
of the large tree trunks and branches. I also place the windows in the house. The
windows are left from the warm under painting and are still light and warm. Don’t make
the mistake of painting them dark and cold. You may think they look that way when you
are there painting. If you do paint them dark, they will look like black holes in
your painting. Also make sure you keep the white out of your shadows. This will keep
them rich looking.
The Complete Painting
After you have filled in all the large shapes with
their local color its time to work the painting. I did say work the painting the whole
painting. Don’t just keep working on one little area. Jump around and bring the whole
painting up to completion together. This way the painting can be stopped at the point
where the whole painting is the best it can be. The more work I do on the painting the
more realistic it becomes.. Some paintings look best being more on the impressionism
side. Other paintings may look better towards the realistic style. I am amused at
people when they come to my show. I hear them talking and it seems like 50% of them think
I am Impressionism and the other 50% realistic. The important thing is that they like
all the paintings. The best way to do this , is to have only the painting you like
and feel it is your best work. The paintings you don't like discard them, it will only
lower your quality if you don't
The things to look out for: Don’t get mud (dirty color) on your
canvas. You can get mud on your canvas three ways. One is by over working the paint
on the canvas. The second way is by not wiping you brush clean between applying fresh
paint to the canvas. The third is by having mud on your palette. The third way is the
most common reason I see. If you have mud on your palette you can count on it getting
into your painting. When ever I get mud on my palette I clean off the palette. If you
clean off all the paint in the mixing area of your palette the mud cannot get onto your
painting. Don’t just remove the little spot of paint that you think looks like mud.
You got it by mixing the other colors around it. Just face the fact, its time to
wipe it clean. It is also important to keep your colors from the tubes organized on
your palette. Think of them like keys on a piano. The keyboards are always setup in
the same order so you know where each note is. It’s the same for your paints; you need
to know where each color is and not hunt for them. Try to limit your colors. I only
use three blues, three reds, four yellows and white. I have no black, as it does not
exist in nature. I have never found a color in nature I could not match with the colors
I have. If you use too many colors I think you can get yourself confused. Also it's just
more tubes of paint to bring or run out of. Keep your small brushes to the end. Limit
the use of them, because they can give your painting an overworked look. One of the most
important things to remember is not every painting will be a masterpiece. So don’t
paint like every painting has to be a masterpiece. Take some chances, experiment.
It’s the only way you will improve and grow. Most of all remember why you are out
there, which is to have fun.
The first thing you must do is to find your motif.
If you want to become a landscape artist you must go out into nature
and absorb as much as you can. You don’t learn how to swim by staying out of the water.
It’s the same for a landscape artist. You have to go outdoors with the bugs,
rain, snow, and sun. You must stay out there for hours, days, months, and years.
It will be difficult to become a great landscape artist by painting from photos.
The best you can hope for is to duplicate what a camera captured in a 1/100th of a
second. When you stand at a location painting, you see all the beauty a place has to
offer over a long period of time and not seconds.
A good painting must start off with a good design.
Without a good design no matter how well painted your painting is it will still be a poor
painting. I believe there is a simple formula, which will help you develop paintings
with a good design. It is simple and most artist know its true, but they seem to avoid
it. I don’t know why? Here is the magical formula you and every other artist is
looking for: