Blog - Page 4 of 21 - Phil Starke Studio

Plein Air Painting: Mixing Color

Even though composition and values are the most important elements in painting, it’s color that draws us to stop and look at a painting. Color draws out more emotions in us. So when we paint outside we want to do more than copy what we see. We want to know our palette well enough to be able to mix and apply color that suggests the light and drama that we see in the landscape. I recently painted in Teton National Park and Southern Utah and I talk about the color choices I made on a couple of the paintings in this video.  Develop your skill as a Plein Air painter and check out my online course “Plein Air Painting Course”.

 

Plein Air Painting: Seeing Shapes Instead of Detail

I recently went on a painting trip to Teton National Park in Wyoming and spent about 12 days painting. Its very easy to get caught up trying to paint details of subtle stuff, especially if its a new area. The details catch our eye and we become enamored with small things that seem different and interesting to paint. I think were naturally drawn to detail so we have to train ourselves to think abstractly in terms of shapes Below is a 16 x 20 that I did in the park. Its a little larger then I usually work so I went back for a second sitting to finish.  Develop your skill as a Plein Air painter and check out my online course “Plein Air Painting Course”.

summer in the tetons16x20 small

summer in the tetons16x20 small

summer in the tetonsflat

summer in the tetonsflat

When I look for subject matter I try to eliminate details and see the subject in shapes of values and planes and this is how I’m trying to see the subject, void of detail a bit more on the abstract side. Its easier to simplify this way. Squinting your eyes when looking at the subject helps to eliminate detail.

Here is another Teton painting, 11×14. The mountains, trees and foreground where full of detail and I had to see past that for three quarters of the painting. Most of the painting is spent trying to get the value and color relationships right between the large dark and light shapes.

sorrounded by giants 11x14 small

sorrounded by giants 11×14 small

sorrounded by giants 11x14 small flat

sorrounded by giants 11×14 small flat

So this is how I’m trying to see the landscape, simplified shape and value. It takes an effort to see past the unimportant stuff but after a while it becomes second nature to visualize the shapes minus the detail.

It helps to start small when painting outside, 6×8, 8×10, You don’t have a large area to try and cover in a short time and you don’t have any room for unnecessary detail.

Painting The Tetons

Phil in the TetonsThis week I’m in Grand Teton National Park, painting for the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters “Paint the Parks” show.  It’s a nice break from the heat of my home in Tucson, AZ, but the scenery is amazing.  This is one of  my favorite places to visit and paint.  Here are a few pics from my trip so far.  I’ll be posting more later.TetonsPicA12x16
 

 

 

 

TetonsPicB11x14AspensInCottonwoodCreek11x14oil

Dramatic Light

 
Light is the one thing that draws most artists to paint the landscape. Were all moved by color but its the quality of the light that creates the color.  Dramatic lighting creates stronger contrasts of both value and color.  Its usually early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the light is the most dramatic. The shadows are longer and have more color variety in them and the lights are warmer and more intense. Below is a painting of sheep grazing in Tucumcari, NM. It was late in the afternoon and the contrast of warm and cool color was intensified by the long shadows. What I’m interested in is the subtle color changes within the shadow.

Trimming the Front Yard 11x14

 

Cloud shadows also create more drama because they create more contrast. Below is a painting from The Wind River Valley in Wyoming. Its close to mid day when the light is flat but the cloud shadows in the foreground and the background create more interest and drama. Here the subtle color changes are in the light areas. This view is outside Dubois WY. The wind River is winding to the Absaroka Mountains.

Wind River Valley 10x16

 

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Dramatic Light

 
Light is the one thing that draws most artists to paint the landscape. Were all moved by color but its the quality of the light that creates the color.  Dramatic lighting creates stronger contrasts of both value and color.  Its usually early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the light is the most dramatic. The shadows are longer and have more color variety in them and the lights are warmer and more intense. Below is a painting of sheep grazing in Tucumcari, NM. It was late in the afternoon and the contrast of warm and cool color was intensified by the long shadows. What I’m interested in is the subtle color changes within the shadow.

Trimming the Front Yard 11x14

 

Cloud shadows also create more drama because they create more contrast. Below is a painting from The Wind River Valley in Wyoming. Its close to mid day when the light is flat but the cloud shadows in the foreground and the background create more interest and drama. Here the subtle color changes are in the light areas. This view is outside Dubois WY. The wind River is winding to the Absaroka Mountains.

Wind River Valley 10x16

 

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Review of Lukas 1862 paints

The last few months I’ve been using Lukas 1862 oil paints in different venues. I’ve used them in plein air painting, demos, large and small studio paintings. I’ve made some comparisons to the brands I usually use as far as mix ability and tinting strength.
Lukas 1862 paints have been produced in Germany since, you guess it 1862. They also make a student grade called Lukas Studio, I haven’t tried them.

The 1862 colors are mixed with linseed oil, non yellowing sunflower oil and bees wax which is supposed to give the paint a more buttery consistency as well as a quicker drying time. All this is easily found on the internet. I’m not a chemist so I have no opinion about the make up, although they claim to be very lightfast and permanent.

Lukas paints are found at Jerry’s Artarama and can be bought on line at www.jerrysartarama.com or at their stores around the country.

In the last 3 months I’ve found Lukas paintis to be very similar to utrecht paints as far as consistency in mixing and tinting strength. They are also comparable to Utrecht in price. When compared to Winsor Newton and Old Holland paints ( I had to take out a loan to get these) the tinting strength is not as strong but the price of Lukas paints are a fraction of the cost.

I know as artists were not supposed to think about the cost of paints and materials, only use whats considered the “best”, but life doesn’t always allow us that luxury, especially when putting kids through school and other things I consider more important than painting. ( yes, there are things more important then painting).

Lukas paints also have a drying element to them. For the few months that I’ve used them they have dried on the canvas over night, I live in the desert, Tucson AZ, so they probably dry faster here. The drying time can be both good and bad, there are times when I like the paint to remain wet so I can work back into it and mess with edges and blending. Drying overnight though can be an advantage when I want to work back into a dry painting to achieve cleaner color variation.

The quick drying aspect is handy when I’m traveling and I need my paintings to dry fast on the road. I recently taught 3 workshops in NY, Kansas City and the Chicago area and the fast drying aspect of the paints really helped with the demos and studies. The faster they dried the less hassle they were to deal with while traveling.

As far as the buttery consistency in mixing Lukas paints I didn’t notice too much difference from what I usually use and I’m not sure I want my paints to mix like butter anyway. Sounds too mushy.

Below are some outdoor and studio paintings I did using Lukas paints.

For the most part I used Titanium white, cadmium yellow, alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. Then as modifiers I used permanent orange, cyan blue and cobalt violet hue. Overall I found the tinting strength to be good, as well as the consistency when mixing and painting. The drying time can be helpful when traveling and painting outside and the price is very good.

Central Park Bridge 9x12

Washington Square Musicians 8x10

Lake Zurich 11x14

Lake Zurich
11×14

Horse Ranch Near Tubac 18x24

 

Kansas City Workshop June 20,21,and 23

Haybales 8x10
Starting Friday June 20 I’ll be teaching a 3 day workshop at the Buena Vista Studios in Roeland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. The workshop will focus on How to Improve Your Color Sense. We will be using photographic references and out door color sketches.

The goal is to understand the colors on your palette so you can use them to best represent light in your landscape, not how to copy the photograph, which is boring at best.

One of the ways to develop an understanding of color is to use color schemes, a predetermined set of colors from the color wheel that can give your painting a particular mood or color harmony. Color schemes also help you to develop your own sense of color and allows you to stay away from just copying the photograph.

Below is my palette with an analogous color scheme of red violet, red, red orange and orange with the compliment of blue green.

analogous color scheme

I used this palette to paint the landscape below.

IMG_9923

Color schemes are a good way to experience different color combinations and helps you focus on value not color. Below is a painting done with a triadic color scheme of blue-violet, red orange and yellow green.

Stream Near Alamosa, CO 9x9

To register for the workshop, visit www.philstarke.com/workshops/

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Judging an Art Show

 
I judged a plein air show in Kansas City, Mo this past week. It was a very good show benefiting Penn Valley Park. Its a great older park to paint in, the trees are large and old (the best kind to paint) and the awards were pretty generous, as well as treating the artists very well, hope they have it again next year. Best of Show was by Patrick Saunders Penn-Valley-Plein-Air-Fest-Painting-The-Pioneer-Mother
When I judge a show I have a list of criteria that I follow, or look for, it can’t be a random selection of my personal likes or dislikes or what piece makes the best political statement.
I start with the composition or how the canvas is designed with the shapes or planes of a painting. Next is the use and understanding of values, then how color is used and lastly how creative or unique the view of the subject is.
You might think creativity and uniqueness would be the first criteria considered but a creative view that isn’t supported by an understanding of design, values and color won’t get the point across.
This way of viewing. (Or in my case judging) paintings doesn’t mean rigid restrictions. Understanding design allows you to make the composition simple or complicated, drawing becomes more about proportion and shape than about photographic rendering and understanding color allows you to mix colors that best represent the light instead of just copying what you see.
So a good understanding of the structure of painting allows you more freedom to express your self (what ever that means.). A painting with a solid foundation can lean towards abstraction. As a matter of fact a good representational painting should have abstract qualities in it.

Below are 2 paintings by Victor Higgins. He was a member of the Taos Society of Artists in the early 20th century. These 2 landscapes have a very strong design quality to them that, almost abstract but at the same time representational.

HigginsAutumnReflection photo

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Zorn’s Edges

I was in New York a couple of weeks ago when the National Academy of Design had a show of Anders Zorn’s paintings and etchings. Simultaneously they had a show titled Zorn’s American Associates featuring John Singer Sargent, Augustus St. Gauden’s and John White Alexander. It was a really great exhibit. The only problem was I didn’t see it. I was busy teaching a workshop in Central Park just across the street. I’m not complaining. It was a very good workshop, Central Park is a great place to paint but the exhibit was so close yet so far away. Theres always the internet though, so I googled Zorn and looked at all the paintings on line.
What I really take away from Zorn’s work is his use of edges. We get carried away with realism (I’m speaking to myself here). We tend to get too literal, each area of a figure or landscape turns into a focal point and we end up with several little finished paintings instead of one.

When we look at a subject, landscape, still life, figure, we focus on one area, we can’t focus on everything at one glance. Thats how we should paint. The focal point should have the sharpest edges and other areas should soften especially in the shadows. Edges in the shadows should disappear while light edges, specially those against dark shapes, will be harder.

Below is a portrait by Anders Zorn. He uses a variety of edges to make the form come out at the viewer or sink back into the shadows. Mainly he does this by losing the edges in the shadow and keeping them harder in the light.

image1

image1

In this close up of the hand, in the same painting, you can see he obliterates the edges on the shadow side and when you contrast this with the harder edges on the light side the form it takes on a 3 dimensional look.

image2

image2

In this painting of a woman he uses softer edges to simplify and to show form on her face. Her black dress has no hard edges except where the light hits it, the shadows are simplified and show no edges.

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

In the detail of the face he uses hard edges to show the cast shadow on her face and the soft edges to show the form shadow on her face. Cast shadow have hard edges and form shadows ( where the form gets darker as it goes around) have softer edges.

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

One last image of a Zorn self portrait. I have arrows pointing to the hard edges. The edges on the collars are hard because they are light and are coming towards the viewer. The hard edge near the eye is a cast shadow so it is harder than the other edges around the eye. The forms that recedes onto the shadow has lost edges.  See more of Zorn’s work here:  Anders Zorn: Sweden’s Master Painter

Anders Zorn: Självporträtt.NM 1510

Anders Zorn: Självporträtt.NM 1510

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Zorn’s Edges

I was in New York a couple of weeks ago when the National Academy of Design had a show of Anders Zorn’s paintings and etchings. Simultaneously they had a show titled Zorn’s American Associates featuring John Singer Sargent, Augustus St. Gauden’s and John White Alexander. It was a really great exhibit. The only problem was I didn’t see it. I was busy teaching a workshop in Central Park just across the street. I’m not complaining. It was a very good workshop, Central Park is a great place to paint but the exhibit was so close yet so far away. Theres always the internet though, so I googled Zorn and looked at all the paintings on line.
What I really take away from Zorn’s work is his use of edges. We get carried away with realism (I’m speaking to myself here). We tend to get too literal, each area of a figure or landscape turns into a focal point and we end up with several little finished paintings instead of one.

When we look at a subject, landscape, still life, figure, we focus on one area, we can’t focus on everything at one glance. Thats how we should paint. The focal point should have the sharpest edges and other areas should soften especially in the shadows. Edges in the shadows should disappear while light edges, specially those against dark shapes, will be harder.

Below is a portrait by Anders Zorn. He uses a variety of edges to make the form come out at the viewer or sink back into the shadows. Mainly he does this by losing the edges in the shadow and keeping them harder in the light.

image1

image1

In this close up of the hand, in the same painting, you can see he obliterates the edges on the shadow side and when you contrast this with the harder edges on the light side the form it takes on a 3 dimensional look.

image2

image2

In this painting of a woman he uses softer edges to simplify and to show form on her face. Her black dress has no hard edges except where the light hits it, the shadows are simplified and show no edges.

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

In the detail of the face he uses hard edges to show the cast shadow on her face and the soft edges to show the form shadow on her face. Cast shadow have hard edges and form shadows ( where the form gets darker as it goes around) have softer edges.

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

Anders Zorn: Omnibus I. NM 6810

One last image of a Zorn self portrait. I have arrows pointing to the hard edges. The edges on the collars are hard because they are light and are coming towards the viewer. The hard edge near the eye is a cast shadow so it is harder than the other edges around the eye. The forms that recedes onto the shadow has lost edges.  See more of Zorn’s work here:  Anders Zorn: Sweden’s Master Painter

Anders Zorn: Självporträtt.NM 1510

Anders Zorn: Självporträtt.NM 1510

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