Headed to the City Art show in may
I see now that playing with these paintings in the studio, after getting 80% of it done outside, is the way to go on these bigger ones. get the big shapes out there. you can always change small compositional problems and make the painting better inside. but the key is dont change the values and colors too much, then look at the reference photo for any areas that are a little vague. having painted outside almost everyday for a long time, i have a mental reference library that i can rely on to fill in the blanks. for example what does green grass do as it goes back in space? it lightens, cools, and desaturates (grays) as it flattens out going into the distance. the reason is the angle is changing that you are looking at the top of the grass from. the cool blue sky overhead and atmosphere (particles hanging in the air between you and the subject) is playing a bigger and bigger part the farther it goes back in space, thus cooling and lightening it. good to know when youre not out there looking at it anymore. or you are out there, and you dont have time to put that down in lieu of getting other more important things down like shadow and light pattern, doing accurate drawing and color notes. a very good reason for painting outside every chance you get. nothing takes the place of direct observation!
2 comments:
Your observation pays off in this painting, Mike. I can feel the brisk breeze that's making the chop in the water. Nice work!
hey don! thanks. even the bushes are leagning way over. did you see where i was getting out of the daily painting thing? decided to put all my energies in my galleries now that ive busted out of being a "regional" artist with some in cape cod and key west. need to take care of them at better prices. the slower pace is agreeing with my artwork and my tired OLD body :D
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