There are times when going out with a sketch book and pencil is more productive than going out with canvas and paints. The pencil sketches help to prepare for a painting, finding a good composition and the right time of day makes the painting a lot more successful. I've headed out to the Catalina Mountains area in Tucson, AZ to get some thumbnail sketching done.
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Oils are considered the best medium for learning how to paint because there are forgiving (you can scrap them off) and you can work with them for a period of time before they dry. Acrylic and watercolor need a basic understanding of color and values first, because every stroke is permanent. The same with pastels, all the mixing and layering is on the paper.
In art school I focused on oils, but I had to do some work in acrylic, watercolor and pastels. The idea being that you reinforce, and have better understanding, of what you know by trying different mediums. When I move from oils to pastels or watercolor it helps me see that the same aspects are important in both. It keeps me from getting too caught up in technique and think more about what's important; design, values, patterns and color temperature.
It’s important to “look correctly” at a photograph so our painting doesn’t look like one. Here’s a few ideas. I’ve created a free checklist for you so it’ll be easy check your photos when you work with them. Just click the orange button below and grab your free copy now. Please SHARE if you know of other artists who might enjoy this video.
Click the button below to download your FREE "Working With Photographs" Checklist.
Too often we lose color harmony in landscapes because we insist on painting the local color of grass, mountains or trees instead of mixing a color that suggests the light. Local color has nothing to do with color temperature. These preconceived ideas about color can really hamper an artists progress. Thinking in terms of how the light effects value and color give us a more accurate view and better harmony. The local color really doesn’t have anything to do with it.
In this painting by Walter Sickert the first thing you notice is the suggestion of light and shadow in the painting not the local color of objects. It becomes secondary.
I’m pleased to announce my newest DVD set from StarkeStudio.com. This 5-Day Studio Workshop focuses on the essential studio skills to produce better paintings and work more creatively and effectively during your time in the studio. Each DVD teaches a different subject, but they all build upon one another to provide solid teaching of essential studio skills.
DVD Lessons included in this Workshop:
1. “Understanding Values” – 57 min.
2. “Understanding Brushwork” – 52 min.
3. “Giving Your Painting Depth” – 50 min.
4. “Understanding Edges” – 59 min.
5. “Understanding Your Color Sense” – 56 min.
Bonus: FREE 6th 44-min. DVD!
“Studying These 5 Elements in the Paintings of Noted Artists” – 44 min.
As a special, free bonus I’ve added a 6th DVD in which I teach from paintings of noted artists and how they used these same principles in their work. I’ll show you how they produced beautiful paintings using these elements.
Available to order by mail, or by direct download.
Visit StarkeStudio.com for more information.
Too often when we are painting outside, or from a photographic reference we are dead set on painting what we see, which can be very frustrating because it’s impossible to recreate our natural surroundings with a few colors on a flat surface. But we can suggest what the light is doing in
terms of value 
and temperature. The same holds true for our composition, when we see straight horizontal or straight vertical lines we need to suggest what would work better.
Straight lines are static and can cut the composition off where angled or curved lines can lead the viewer into the picture. The first painting by Willard Metcalf has angled or curved lines that flow through out the painting. It’s impossible to know if these artists painted exactly what they saw or had to modify the lines but the compositions work and have no straight, static lines. To the
left is a painting by Ernest Blumenschein. There isn’t a straight line in the painting. The lines of the river bank draw you into the painting and the angled lines of the mountain and trees keep the
painting from being static.
The last painting by Aldro Hibbard also has flowing lines in the river that lead you into the painting. The lines of the houses and mountains flow through the painting nicely. Even the straight trees aren’t straight, they are slightly angled or curved.
Too often when we are painting outside, or from a photographic reference we are dead set on painting what we see, which can be very frustrating because it’s impossible to recreate our natural surroundings with a few colors on a flat surface. But we can suggest what the light is doing in
terms of value and temperature. The same holds true for our composition, when we see straight horizontal or straight vertical lines we need to suggest what would work better.
Straight lines are static and can cut the composition off where angled or curved lines can lead the viewer into the picture. The first painting by Willard Metcalf has angled or curved lines that flow through out the painting. It’s impossible to know if these artists painted exactly what they saw or had to modify the lines but the compositions work and have no straight, static lines. To the
left is a painting by Ernest Blumenschein. There isn’t a straight line in the painting. The lines of the river bank draw you into the painting and the angled lines of the mountain and trees keep the painting from being static.
The last painting by Aldro Hibbard also has flowing lines in the river that lead you into the painting. The lines of the houses and mountains flow through the painting nicely. Even the straight trees aren’t straight, they are slightly angled or curved.
Click here to read the September Newsletter from Starke Studio. http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Newsletter-from-Phil-Starke-Studio.html?soid=1102502724695&aid=5nDlLSxLEaw.
I’ve put together another Topical Video Lesson. This video focuses on painting textures. DVD 1 focuses on “Painting The Textures of Objects”. Different surfaces reflect or absorb light differently. I demonstrate techniques to achieve different textures. DVD 2 is “Painting The Textures of Water” and is a lesson on how to handle the different surfaces, still and rushing water, and depths of water. In this video I also discuss the techniques to achieve these surfaces and how they’re effected by light and their surroundings. This new Topical Video Lesson is called “Painting Textures”. You can check it out and see a free preview here.
When you visit StarkeStudio.com you’ll notice it has a whole new look. If you don’t see an updated website when you visit, please refresh or reload your page and you’ll get the new website. I’ve redone the site to help with ease of use and navigation.
Scraping the paint off your canvas doesn’t always mean you’ve goofed up. Scraping is a good tool to use between stages of a painting. When you’re outside and are quickly blocking in a painting with thick paint because thicker paint gives you a better suggestion of light than thinner paint and makes a bolder statement, you can use a palette knife to scrape an area that you want to refine and it’s easier to refine over thinner paint. Scraping dosen’t ruin the color, value, or shape, it just gets rid of excess paint. It also teaches you not to fall in love with an area too soon.
In the studio I scrape between the block in stage and the broken color stage or if I have to stop in the broken color stage or if I have to stop painting for the day and don’t want the painting to dry with thick paint yet, I can go in with a palette knife and lightly scrape excess paint off and not lose the drawing, value or color.
