Tag: light

Chatter Gouache

Le Port au Soleil Couchant, St. Tropez – Paul Signac Study

By -N- on

I really love this particular painting by Paul Signac, Le Port au Soleil Couchant, St. Tropez.  The colors and composition draw my eye in so many ways.  My study is above, and the illustration I used is below.   Unfortunately, its color is rather flat and muted compared to other versions I saw.  This image was the best I could find to download and share here.

There are a number of things I like about this painting. The graduation of colors in the sky, from the blue in the upper left corner and its movement through the spectrum to green, yellow, and orange. The sailboats provide a visual dance, from the one in the center of the painting, and the especially delightful one further back on the right. That one, for some reason, just expresses joy to me. I used to sail a bit, and that one catches me in particular – the keeling over in a good wind is a grand experience! Finally, the reflections from the center sailboat along with the ones to either side, moving in to the dock. There is a sparkle and liveliness throughout the painting, and the usage of Pointillism really brings home that brilliance of the Mediterranean clime.

My own progress through this painting took a bit of time and tactical consideration. From earlier paintings I learned that an under painting of the primary colors for the section to be painted produced good results, as well as provided a structural basis for the painting. This requires a good drawing to get perspective correct.

Above, you can see the basic under painting, using colors close to the final one.

The first layer of dots goes down, and in many instances I simply used what I had on my palette, straight out of the tube. As this is gouache, even when the paints are dry, I can mush colors together on the paper if I want.

I work on my drafting table and use a large monitor to see what I am looking at. Out of range of this photo, to my right, is my Chrome Book set up.

My second layer of color was done by using a smaller brush than I used to lay in the first layer of dots. And what color did I use? White! Tap, tap, tap. I felt like a woodpecker.

Finally, the painting is close to finished. More layers of dots and various colors.  Little details were added at the end, such as the flag on the mast, the gaps in the top sail which show the sky beyond, the people in the boat, the rigging on the boat moored to the left, the upright lines on the dock in the right mid ground (more moored vessels?), and after the photo was taken, the lines on the right mooring bitt.

The takeaway here?  More understanding on using color, and the strength of a good composition.  Signac provided both, but copying brought home some lessons.  It is hard to say what I am learning here, but I do know that my hardest lesson continues to be not making mud.  Separating colors out from others – specifically, not blending them (too much) – is easily done in Pointillism.  I wonder how this will impact my future work and practice.

On to finding another Signac to study!

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Chatter Watercolor

Either Side of the Wall

By -N- on

This painting is derived from some take-aways from yesterday’s study based on Charlie Evan’s video. I left white for the tree trunks, painting around them carefully. I also painted more slowly and less splashily than my usual mess. The result is more controlled and perhaps a bit more structured.  While the painting itself is not what I would consider a real hit, it does have a decent bit of light and dark, sun and shadow, which is what I was striving for.

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Chatter

North Country

By -N- on

Hard to believe it’s been two weeks or so since I was last online.

Life has been busy, but in reality, the weather has been awful! We have had a heat wave that knackers you – 100+ F, and even worse further inland. Temps have ranged from 95-111 in the vicinity where I live (35-43C). Ugh. As a result, blobdom has reigned as the primary mode of existence and, sadly, some binge watching on the TV in the air-conditioned house. I guess we all have to do it.

Despite that, I have met with a pencil portrait group in a local park and have enjoyed those mornings. I have also done some sewing. And mice chasing, but no catching. Today I cleaned up the mess I call a studio.

And finally, I have sat down to paint. I wanted scudding clouds and changing light – movement from bright to dark across the hills and the sky. Wind, too. Anything to cool off.

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Chatter Pastels

Tanglewood (Pastels)

By -N- on

Another series of three to emerge from this Land of Pandemica, where house arrest prevails and imagination runs wild!

I took this picture about a month ago, just as the shelter-in-mandate order came down from on high.  I really like this picture because of its moodiness and the brightness of the leaves.  It looks pretty mysterious, but in reality that is an effect of the editing.  Still, I like it enough to give it an attempt for a number of reasons!  There is a rhythm in the trees and their curves.  The leaves on the ground lie fairly horizontally, while the green leaves are vertical.  All these conspire to challenge me . . . So, without further ado, below is the first attempt, in pastels as today is dedicated to pastels!

As you can see, I moved the leaves from vertical to a bit more diagonal.  I also added some “stuff” to the lower left corner as the original photo was pretty dark and lacking in detail.  The floor of last year’s leaves are more orange than beige.  I tried to pay attention to my marks – the stroke of the pastel stick – as well as to doing some negative painting to help the lighter areas stand out.

I am a fairly pleased with this painting.  Pastels are more forgiving than either gouache or watercolor – especially watercolor! – and because of this, I can think about contrast and structure a bit as I go along.  It may make the final one (watercolor) easier to do after the next one, which will be in gouache.

 

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Chatter Pastels

Between the Trees

By -N- on

What caught my eye here are the shadows across the roadway.  I just recently read that shadows are essentially the color of whatever is beneath them.  Thus, shadows on green grass are darker green; shadows on a sandy path are darker shades of sand.  The blue sky also impacts shadows, as does the sun, such as filtering through the leaves.  Distance is demonstrated (as always!) by less detail and lighter, perhaps bluer, things in the distance.   Here, I was interested in the cast shadows along with trying to catch the flickering sunshine through the leaves.

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Chatter Watercolor

Winter Sunset

By -N- on

I took this picture awhile back in the local botanical garden.  It is an oak against the sky, with the Santa Monica range in the distance.  In the photo, the tree is silhouetted against a yellow sky, and the foreground is mottled with dried grasses.  The California oak is not deciduous, but shows leaves year round.

The process here is along the lines of yesterday’s post, and is more successful I think.  It is very simple.  The steps I took began with a wash on the entire paper (8×10) in raw sienna.  The mountains on the left were done next using a bit of sap green with the raw sienna, followed by some cobalt blue for the darker range.  After that, the lower half of the painting had a wash of a greenish color, later followed with a darker green of sap green and cobalt blue.  The tree and brush in the center were of burnt sienna and cobalt, with perhaps a bit of ultramarine as well.

That’s it.  Fairly successful in moving from light to dark, general to specific.  The simplicity of the subject matter makes it an easy painting to do – yesterday’s fig tree through the window was more complex, and accordingly more difficult.  I really wonder if I will ever successfully paint complex scenes, such as a forest and creek or a city street filled with cars, people, buildings, and whatever – rather daunting, actually.

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Chatter Watercolor

Through the Window

By -N- on

I’ve been doing a bit of reading . . . the gist of which is work light to dark, then general to detailed, and the last is more important than the first.  It is from Tom Hoffman’s excellent book on watercolor, should you wish to know.

Anyhoooo, following this advice, I made a foray into a rather abstract painting.  The corner of my house has two windows, set perpendicular to one another, and are furnished with plantation shutters – wooden shutters with wide slats.  This is from a photo I took.  I tried to catch the graphic lines of the shutters in contrast to the curves of the fig tree and its autumnal leaves outside, next to the sidewalk and street.

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Drawing Watercolor

In the Style of Urban (Not the Pope)

By -N- on

In a number of circles, there is an “urban sketch” style done with ink and watercolor.  Drawing and painting are combined.  Some people are masters of it, in my opinion, having a good balance of ink and clear watercolor, with one or the other predominating, and the other not overwhelming its partner.  (I hope that made sense!)

I am trying to find that balance.  I’d say I am okay with ink, but heavy-handed with color.

Today I decided to try two things.  The first is above – a simple “country” scene with trees (and green!  remember yesterday?), a fence, and a building.  The idea was for the sun – the light source – to be coming from the left, behind the barn.  I’m not so sure what that big blue thing is to the right of the (obvious) three shadows of the trees, but it’s too late to do anything about that!

This one is an urban scene, one obviously not in downtown Los Angeles, but in some older part of the world.  Here, the light is coming from the right, perhaps, but the alleys and buildings create their own logic.  Shadows are broken up with bright spots.  One can only imagine that to find the light, looking up will reveal a world much different than the one on the ground.  I think this one was fairly successful; there are parts which seem to work, and others that make no sense at all – like, what is that thing?  Scribble more ink on it and let the viewer guess!

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