wayne art center

During this painting workshop I will lead you through the process of capturing the overall essence and mood that natural light plays in an interior space or still life. I will cover techniques to render the changing of natural light in conjunction with artificial light. We will focus on a few key factors including drawing with color shapes, breaking down the motif into a minimum number of color values, the importance of edge quality, and the use of editing. During the beginning of the workshop I will conduct a quick painting demo highlighting the feel of the space and to help students with an idea of execution. The objective will be to lay in the whole underpainting, then we will break it down and reconstruct it through the layering process. Students will have the option to work on one or multiple paintings. Finally, we will conclude the painting workshop with a group critique. Through the duration of the workshop, I will give instruction and individual critiques.

 

Ways to Approach a Painting

 

1. Paintings begin with an idea. What is it I want to paint. When looking for a particular subject, what strikes my vision and why? The painting needs to have a main focus for it to count. It could be the shape of a table, an arrangement of flowers, a figure sitting on a chair. It could also be a particular color that stands out from the rest or the way the sunlight is coming through the window.

-After finding an idea, we figure out how to compose it/ the composition. The key element for composition are values, degrees of light and dark. If you start with a strong and simple value relationship, it will make a stronger composition. A strong composition makes the painting process easier and it can almost feel like the painting is painting itself through the process. I will try to reduce the composition to as few value or color-value masses as possible. Around 2 or 3. Anymore, the painting will feel busy or overdone. Once the two or three values are laid down, then the values can vary within those larger masses, such as subtle dark variations within the dark masses and subtle light variations with the light value masses.

 

Composing your design elements, such as value, color, shapes, edges, it is important to apply the Principal of dominance. When applying your different values, compositional elements, one of them must be more dominant than the others. Also, this applies with warm and cool colors. If things are too equal, than the overall painting will not be as interesting.

 

-if there is a color that is different and really stands out, use it in only one spot.

 

2. Doing a small sketch before painting can be helpful to set ideas into place. Sketches are useful for placing light and shadow, because you can refer to that while painting so you get into the habit of chasing the light. Plus, doing a sketch will help simplify shapes and values so that the main idea will be dominant, also eliminating anything that will take away from the main idea.

Most of the time I won’t do a preliminary sketch because if I can lay in a strong underpainting fairly quickly, that will be like a sketch and going back into it, it’s sort of like tracing it with layers of paint.

 

3. When starting a painting, there are many ways to go about it. I like drawing with color, or blocking in large value shapes. I will apply the paint thinly for the first layer/underpainting so the brush strokes will go a long way covering the entire surface quickly. I will try to spend no more than 30 to 45 minutes for the underpainting. (When painting urban subjects, it may take a little longer because measuring and figuring out spacial relationships along with having the perspective right is a factor.). At this stage, it’s easier to make the necessary changes for a strong composition. Concentrate on the shapes not the objects. Squinting your eyes, you can see the big color value shapes and various elements blend together. For instance, the shadow from a table can blend into the darkness of some chairs, or the light on the wall blends into the highlight of a box. Try to see what is similar, not different. Try to create paths that connect darks together and connect the lights together whenever possible. This will help for a strong design and leads the eye through the motif. When the underpainting / basic shapes are blocked in, now is the time to ask yourself, does the composition work? Is there anything that needs to be changed to make a stronger painting? Now is the time to make those changes if needed.

 

4. Once the block in is complete, you can start layering. Heavier paint can be applied. I’ll mix a few large blobs of color values on my palette as my base to work from, and I’ll pull from those to make warms and cools and to fine tune to achieve more accurate color. Just make sure that the value stays intact while reworking the painting.

 

5. If there is a dominant focus in your painting, make sure everything leads your eye to this area. This area can consist of the darkest darks or the lightest lights, the most intense color. Also, you can have the hardest edges and, or the thickest amount of paint. And to keep this area as the main focus, we can soften or knock back any area that pulls your eye away from it.

 

6. Furthermore, if I need another session to work on this painting, I will use my palette knife to scape back the certain parts of the painting or sometimes all of it so I will have a more even surface to continue layering with more paint. Also through applying paint over the previously painted surface with spots of the underpainting exposed, it will give the painting substance and vibration.

 

Painters to check out:

John Singer Sargent

Edward Seago

John Twachtman

C.W. Mundy

Joaquin Sorolla

John Carlson

Anders Zorn

Edgar Payne

Jon Redmond

Patrick Lee