Quixote Oak, 16 x 12 inches, oil on linen
Here's the painting I did last Saturday at Quixote, all cleaned up (removed bugs and adjusted a few edges) and framed.
I didn't mention it in the earlier post but one of the reasons I chose this view was because I knew there wouldn't be drastic changes in light and color during the time I worked on it. As you know, painting en plein air sometimes feels like a race against the Sun, trying to get everything down before the light changes.
I knew that I was only working on my painting a little bit at a time in between my rounds of everyone's easels, so I needed a view that didn't change much. An open shade provides such a view, and while the dappled light patterns changed, that wasn't a concern because that stuff is not copied literally anyway. Dappled light is one of those things you can design with much freedom, a perfect tool for creating interesting patterns, or moving the eye around, or describing the terrain, or any number of things.
The way I use color is somewhat restrained compared to many (ok, most) of my friends and colleagues. I like a lot of grays and muted tones, for the most part. Often I just have a small area of more saturated notes (the background green, in this case) but even that isn't fully saturated.
Because of my tendency to be more tonal, I don't have huge complementary color juxtapositions between light and shadow side of a common surface. But I do sneak in a little bit of it, especially if I'm painting outside.
For example, in this painting, the dappled light / shadow pattern on the ground is yellow / violet. Whereas some artists push these complementary colors, mine are very close to gray, thus close to each other. They are variations of the same gray. By doing it this way, I can keep the light and the shadow to feel like they are occurring on the same surface, and avoid them looking like two different objects.
If you keep your light and shadow colors closely related, like in this painting, or in a more monochromatic tonalist painting, you can introduce a lot of value jump between the light and shadow and still make them feel like they're the same surface. But if you have a lot of color contrast between light and shadow, you typically need to keep the values closer (and higher keyed) to make them look believable. Usually. Not always.
So the tip of the day, is; The more color contrast, the less value contrast. And vice versa. Or to put it another way; You can have a lot of color contrast or a lot of value contrast between your light and shadow, but not both.
Usually. Not Always.
I didn't mention it in the earlier post but one of the reasons I chose this view was because I knew there wouldn't be drastic changes in light and color during the time I worked on it. As you know, painting en plein air sometimes feels like a race against the Sun, trying to get everything down before the light changes.
I knew that I was only working on my painting a little bit at a time in between my rounds of everyone's easels, so I needed a view that didn't change much. An open shade provides such a view, and while the dappled light patterns changed, that wasn't a concern because that stuff is not copied literally anyway. Dappled light is one of those things you can design with much freedom, a perfect tool for creating interesting patterns, or moving the eye around, or describing the terrain, or any number of things.
The way I use color is somewhat restrained compared to many (ok, most) of my friends and colleagues. I like a lot of grays and muted tones, for the most part. Often I just have a small area of more saturated notes (the background green, in this case) but even that isn't fully saturated.
Because of my tendency to be more tonal, I don't have huge complementary color juxtapositions between light and shadow side of a common surface. But I do sneak in a little bit of it, especially if I'm painting outside.
For example, in this painting, the dappled light / shadow pattern on the ground is yellow / violet. Whereas some artists push these complementary colors, mine are very close to gray, thus close to each other. They are variations of the same gray. By doing it this way, I can keep the light and the shadow to feel like they are occurring on the same surface, and avoid them looking like two different objects.
If you keep your light and shadow colors closely related, like in this painting, or in a more monochromatic tonalist painting, you can introduce a lot of value jump between the light and shadow and still make them feel like they're the same surface. But if you have a lot of color contrast between light and shadow, you typically need to keep the values closer (and higher keyed) to make them look believable. Usually. Not always.
So the tip of the day, is; The more color contrast, the less value contrast. And vice versa. Or to put it another way; You can have a lot of color contrast or a lot of value contrast between your light and shadow, but not both.
Usually. Not Always.
14 comments:
Terry, that is an excellent tip. I was just painting tonight and struggling with why I could literally observe color and value on one object but it didn't mesh together well. I had to make the shadows lighter to make it believable. You just taught me why. Thanks! Now I can do this on purpose instead of accident.
I still love this beautiful and gnarled oak, Terry. Methinks 't'were it I who had to pick out bugs from a painting, the painting would be relegated to the trash, no matter how much I loved it! LOLOL
Thanks Jeremy~ Glad you found it informative! As a way of introducing a "greater common denominator" between light and shadow, you can borrow a bit of the light color and mix that into the shadow, rather than adding white or other unrelated colors.
You can use the shadow color to darken the light as well, it seems to work better if you lighten the shadow than to darken the light. Not a formula, though. Too much "common denominator" will result in a drab painting so watch out :-)
AutumnLeaves, that's funny~
The way to remove bugs and dirt and debris from a plein air painting is to let it dry completely and brush it off with a bristle brush. Some people leave a few in as a proof that it was painted on location.
You can get the same effect in the studio by keeping a rotting fruit handy by the easel too!
USUALLY, ALWAYS I enjoy these posts.
Great post Terry, I like the painting too.
Interesting post Terry, I will look out for those relations in my next painting.
This post was very timely. I was trying to analyze a painting of mine which was successful. I took strips from the foreground, middle and background. I duplicated those and converted them to grayscale. I noticed that there was very little value difference within each of the three sections. Now I realize all of the contrast came from difference in color temperature and saturation. thanks for explaining.
This is my favorite demo from the weekend. Very very nice. And not easy! Of course you made it look easy though........
I find your tips very useful, so thank you!
Thanks DSM, Jesus, Erik, Dan, and Randy!~
I find that I repeat this tip over and over in class and workshops. It's a useful one. In a future post, I'll try and address other ways of making light and shadow "related".
Cheers~
Thanks for the giggles, Terry. Yes, just what I need. A painting garnished with fruit flies! Course, no harm no foul with my pieces! LOLOL
A great lesson and beautiful work. Thank you.
Terry, that's a beautiful painting! (Great title too.) What character. You really capture their spirit in this one tree. Oaks are extremely evocative (check out Wm.Bryant Logan, Oak: The Frame of Civilization), but also, of course, in trouble here in California. I'm tempted to do an oak show at some point--oak trees, oak frames... Think about it! -- Tim
Right on, AutumnLeaves~
Thanks Connie!
Tim, thanks for the great event! I'd be up for an oak show - keep me posted!!
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