Category Archives for Tips & Techniques
How To Paint Brighter Colors with Grays
When painting, outside or inside, a bright or sunlit object, we tend to think in terms of stronger or more saturated color, or color straight from the tube to make it stand out more. In reality we need to think just the opposite. When we’re painting an object in a landscape or still life that seems stronger in color it’s always more effective to desaturate or neutralize the colors around the bright object to make it standout.
For example, a mountain being lit by the setting sun will look intense and full of sunlight only if I reduce the saturation of the surrounding sky, trees and foreground with grayer, cooler color. With a limited palette of Continue Reading
Painting From Memory – An Exercise in Observation
Painting from memory is a good way to think through and analyze what you just saw. Like reading a book, then describing it in your own words, memorizing forces me to view the scene differently, looking only for the important big stuff that I can remember and translate into value and temperature.
It’s easier to remember and compose large, flat patterns of dark and light and the results are different from painting from life and a lot different Continue Reading
Composing For Different Shapes
I’ve always done small paintings, both outside and inside and then rework the compositions in the studio to come up with a variety of possibilities. We had a similar exercise in art school where we picked a subject or story line then using outdoor sketches, drawings and photographs come up with 10 different thumbnail compositions.
After deciding on one, I complete three different color studies to come up with different color schemes. The next step Continue Reading
Composing For Different Shapes
I’ve always done small paintings, both outside and inside and then rework the compositions in the studio to come up with a variety of possibilities. We had a similar exercise in art school where we picked a subject or story line then using outdoor sketches, drawings and photographs come up with 10 different thumbnail compositions.
After deciding on one, I complete three different color studies to come up with different color schemes. The next step Continue Reading
Studio Paintings
The process for a studio painting is obviously different than a field sketch. Aside from being smaller, the outdoor paintings are more of a quick response to light, color and weather conditions. For me, Continue Reading
What You Realize Teaching a Workshop
I just finished teaching a 3-day workshop here in Tucson for the Tucson Art Academy. We painted in the Catalina State Park, full of mountains, washes and cottonwoods. We painted a model in the courtyard of an old Spanish style church and at the ruins of Tumacacori Mission.
Teaching forces me to carefully think about my painting process. First, Continue Reading
Torrey Pines
I painted at Torrey Pines Reserve last week. I spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday painting for a show on Sunday. Three days is a little short to get ready for a show. I could have used 3 days to scout the area and do 6 x 8 or 8 x 10 sketches to prepare to paint for a show. It was a good exercise in making a decision on what to paint. I didn’t have a lot of time to be picky and search for the perfect composition.
My regular palette is cad yellow light, cad red light, alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. During this time in Torrey Pines I added Continue Reading
Torrey Pines
I painted at Torrey Pines Reserve last week. I spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday painting for a show on Sunday. Three days is a little short to get ready for a show. I could have used 3 days to scout the area and do 6 x 8 or 8 x 10 sketches to prepare to paint for a show. It was a good exercise in making a decision on what to paint. I didn’t have a lot of time to be picky and search for the perfect composition.
My regular palette is cad yellow light, cad red light, alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. During this time in Torrey Pines I added Continue Reading
Cloudy Day Colors
On a recent painting trip to Colorado I spent 4 days painting in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately it rained most of the time and was overcast the rest of the time. It’s a little disappointing when you’re looking forward to early morning light and shadow and sunsets. But cloudy days present a good opportunity to Continue Reading