Green, Green, It's Green They Say..

The overwhelming amount of green in summer landscapes requires that we think about how to handle so much of the same color. Here are some suggestions:

1.  Use values to describe the different planes of green.  Dark greens in the foreground, mid-tone greens in the middle ground and lighter greens in the background.

2. Use color temperature to distinguish between foreground, middle ground and distance.
    Light cool greens in the background, neutral greens in the middle ground, and warm dark greens in   the foreground.

3. Or, in the case of this rendition of pines along the coast, use arbitrary colors to avoid the problem of greens altogether. 

In "Ocean Island Beach,"  I tried to employ all three ideas.  But my biggest concern was not to let the color green so completely overwhelm the painting by repeating the same green color in all planes.  Repetition and dominance are one thing;  boredom resulting from no contrasting relief colors is quite another.

From This To That

From sketch, to drawing, to final painting.  From value plan to first wash, midtones and final dark accents.

The process matters.  Going to the details and the darks too quickly will skip that very important middle step.  Think it through like a game of chess.  Know what you're going to do three steps down the road before you do the first wash.  And hit the midtones darker than you think they should be.  Here is Nubble Light House.

Workshop Opportunity

This is The Eastwind, one of many local vessels which sails from Boothbay Harbor several times a day.
Schooners are  one of the sites you can expect to see if you decide to come to Maine for my September workshop.  There are also The Maine Botanical Garden, The Railway Village, five lighthouses, a busy harbor with many lobster boats, and a quaint shopping district.

My workshop is September 10th - 14th.  This year we will be concentrating on painting prodedures as well as color choices. 

For further information, please email me at    caroljessen@yahoo.com        You can also visit my blogsite
caroljessen.blogspot.com    or   my website   caroljessen.webs.com 

I look forward to sharing this beautiful region and its coastline with you!

Plein Air Painting

Painting on location poses many challenges.  Wednesdays here in Boothbay, the Plein Air Painters of Maine paint together.  This morning I reported for painting at about 8:30.  My scene was really devoid of anything to excite me, but luckily, yesterday I saw  a canoeist  who was coming in from a paddling adventure, and I determined he might come in handy for a future painting.

Sometimes, you have to draw upon memory to incorporate elements that aren't present when you actually begin to paint.  This requires either a good sketch or a good memory.  This was the case this morning.

Keep your eyes and your memories open so that when needed, you can draw upon those images  to include in your paintings.

Don't Give Up Too Early

This is my summertime neighborhood.  We all have our crosses....

At the beginning of this painting I was convinced it was going to be a stinker.  But I've learned not to quit too early when the going gets tough.  What else do you have to do anyway? 

My friend Judi Wagner used to say, "Stay lighter longer."  That gives you plenty of time to decide where the darks should go.  And I am one of those painters who works the whole page at the same time.  That way you get a feel for the balance as well as a chance to link the darks. 

What a great summer day!

365!

Although I've been doing this blog for well over two years,  this is a milestone...my 365th entry!  What better way to mark the occasion than with a wild and colorful, free-spirited painting. 

The big bold wash was the first key.  I used two washes wet-into-wet, granulated, that gave the painting unity.  Around the lighthouse I used some cooler colors to give relief to the predominance of warm colors in the rest of the painting.  Figures give scale and life.  I'm including the first wash to show that you really need to be bold with that first wash.  "If it looks right when it's wet,"  John Pike wrote, "it's wrong."

Trees

When painting trees, it's important to remember that trunks and limbs are cylindrical.  That means you leave a highlight on them just as you would on a vase. 

Also, some branches are lighter in value than others in shade.  If you paint all branches the same value and the same color, the result will be unsatisfactory.  Study which branches are light and which are nearly black silhouettes.  Also decide which branches are warm and which are cool.  Variety and contrast make for interest. 

Here are two of my favorite trees out on Ocean Point.

Windjammer Day

The annual Windjammer Days festival is held here in Boothbay Harbor at the end of every June.  This year the weather was rather threatening, but it remained dry all day.  I spent the day restaurant hopping so as to have the best view of the ships entering the harbor. Sketching and photographing was the best way to go due to large crowds. 

Keep that sketchbook handy!

Unity

One of the major problems with painting plein air is deciding on color schemes. How many colors will you use and to what purpose?  If there are green leaves in the upper corner but green does not repeat anywhere else, you are creating a spot of disunity.  Taking the liberty to use color as a unifying factor requires deliberation and decision making to limit the number of colors to achieve a satisfying result. 

In this painting of Little River Beach near my cottage, I chose to push the color temperature to the warm side, using yellow ochre, raw sienna and burnt sienna.  To contrast that, smaller areas of blue were included in the first wash to provide relief and heighten the purity of the warm colors.  To create the dead fallen tree, I painted the negative space around it.  But because the first wash went over both the tree and the background, they had a commonality that created unity.

Select colors that unify rather than for their local color accuracy.

Wednesday Group

Here in Maine, we're expecting three straight days of 90 degree heat.  So the Wednesday Plein Air group painted at Grimes Cove at Ocean Point today.  I found a shady spot where I could catch a little breeze. 

Rocks are hard to paint.  Folks who haven't really looked at Maine rocks sometimes paint them round and soft looking.  I always look for the angular structure and hard edges to define their hardness.  Also, I also look for ways to link the shadows.  Colors go from warm to cool, so finding ways to place blues next to burnt siennna heightens the color quality.

Now I'm going to retreat to my dock with a cold drink to await the sea breeze that comes with the change of tide.

Arbitrary Color

"Well, Carol, That's the way it was."  In my workshops, this statement may be the most used explanation of color choices in paintings.  Trees are green, skies are blue and rocks are gray or brown.  If your goal is literalism or illustration, that's fine, but it sure doesn't say much about the color preferences of the artist and the feelings they produce.

Arbitrary..definition:    Depending on individual discretion and not fixed by law.  Determined by individual preferences rather than the instrinsic nature of things.

Choosing colors that please and that glow and that create unity should override any obedience to local color.  So trees can be red or purple, skies can be orange or violet, and rocks can be yellow.  You are the artist, and you get to decide! 

Interlocking Shapes

Interlocking shapes are like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle: one positive shape fits into a negative shape.  In this case, the two pieces are the background shape (negative) and the pier and boat shape (positive).  If you trace your finger around the pier, the shack and the boat, you'll see that the shape interlocks with the rest of the painting by poking into that space.  In addition, the positive shape is an oblique which contrasts with the horizontals in the background and the foreground water.

The best shapes, Edgar Whitney maintained, are longer in one direction,interlocking and oblique.  Design deliberately, with this in mind.

Boothbay Harbor

This sketch of Boothbay Harbor nearly cost me dearly.  I had just had lunch at a dockside restaurant and was working on the sketch when a gust of wind lifted the top half of the umbrella with its heavy wooden pole and metal attachment which then crashed down on my head!  Luckily, a doctor and her husband were having lunch at the table next to me and came to my aid.  She pronounced me okay but predicted a knot on my head which has now appeared.  The price we pay for our art!

First of the Season

On Wednesdays here in Boothbay Harbor, the Plein Air Painters of Maine meet at various locations around the peninsula.  This was my first Wednesday since I've returned.  It was good to be painting again with close friends whom I've known for years.  I chose to paint this woodshed.  I was reminded of my lessons before I left St. Louis, and decided to use the complementary color scheme, an easy choice since the pine trees were green and the fallen needles were red!

It's good to have the first one out of the way.

Pure Colors vs. Neutral Colors

Now that the trip is over, I'm back to watercolor.  This one exemplifies what I was saying about complementary colors before the trip.  It also illustrates the fact that, in a mostly neutral color scheme, the pure color accents attract the viewer's eye.

Let me remind you, too, that my Maine workshop is scheduled for September 10-14.  Enrollment is limited to 16, so sign up soon!  For more information, you can request an online brochure by emailing me at  

                                                           caroljessen@yahoo.com

After 1,500 miles, I'm finally back in my beloved Maine.  And if ever there is an iconic landmark of this state, it's Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine. 

The weather has been so beautiful, but now we're in for 3-6 inches of rain over the next few days, so I may not be able to paint for a while.  Thanks for your patience and your support!

Motif #1

You can't leave Rockport without sketching or painting Motif #1.

The Rest of the Cove

Here's the other side of the cove across from my inn here in Rockport. 

Tomorrow, Motif #1.

Rockport, Massachusetts

Here's the view from the big common balcony outside my room here in Rockport.  What a treasure trove of art is here!  My sketch book is filling up!

On The Road Sketch

Lenox, Massachusetts......

Split Complementary

A split complementary choice is a palette that is made up of 3 analogous colors (side by side on the color wheel) and one contrasting (complementary) color.  For example: yellow orange, orange, and red + blue. The contrasting color provides an emphasis in the focal area.  In this painting, the contrasting color is on the shadow side of the boat and repeated in a more neutral hue in the buildings. 

Split complementary color schemes provide a feeling of harmony and unity.  Choose your own combination and try it!

Blue Orange Complements

Here's one more version of the same Ocean point scene.  This time I used fewer neutralized colors, making the side-by-side complements even more vibrant.

More Complementary Colors

Here's another take on the subject, this time using red and green complements.  These are only studies, but they should remind you that placing complements side by side intensifies them, and that mixing them on the page by glazing or wet-in-wet provides a neutral relief.

Complementary Colors

I decided to try another painting using the complements of violet and yellow.  As you can see in the sky and the rocks, combining complementary colors wet-in-wet produces a beautiful neutral gray.  That leaves the lightest area around the focal point with the purest colors.  Contrast of complementary colors and neutrals and pure colors adds interest and punch to a landscape.

Complementary colors

Beginning with this post, I'm going to paint the same subject with different complementary colors.  This first painting uses yellow and violet.  On the island I used pure color while the sky and foreground were neutralized colors which leaned either to the warm or cool color.  Painting in a series with a particular focus, like experimenting with color theories, reminds us all of the important things about painting. 

The "L" Shape

Squint your eyes and you will see several "L" shapes in this painting of a feed store near Kimmswick, Missouri.  The light values of the buildings form an "L".  So do the background trees on the left.  And the sky that leaks into the feed store forms another "L". 

People wonder why Motif #1 in Rockport, Massachusetts is so named.  It's because the building is a natural "L" shape, making it an easy compositional choice.

Self Evaluation

Sorry for the interlude between my last post and this one.  Between severe storms and fighting an invasion of raccoons, I have been Sleepless in St. Louis.

After completing any painting, I go through a mental checklist of the elements and principles. 
In this painting I am satisfied with several things and disappointed with others.

Things I am satisfied with:   1. Contrast.  The darkest values are placed next to the lightest values in the focal area creating interest.   2.  Color:  Mostly neutrals, creating unity.  3.  Shapes.  The buildings interlock with the background trees.

Things that need improvement:  1.  Shapes  The sky shape, the beach shape, and the village are are all approximately the same size.  In the sketch I lessened the shape of the sky, so the buildings and the beach were more dominant.  2. Color. I would like more vivid colors to conform to the direction my work has been taking lately.  3.  Line/Direction :  Horizontals were a bit too dominant.  I need some vertical, perhaps overlapping to give relief to the horizontals.

Once you finish a painting, you need a way of evaluating it that isn't as vague as "I like it"  or "I'm not sure I like it."  The checklist of elements and principles will give you that evaluation tool.

Preliminaries

More and more, I've become convinced that a value sketch is an important preliminary to the painting of a successful watercolor.  Here's a sketch of Popham Beach, Maine, that I plan to paint tomorrow. 

If you want, paint your own version of this sketch.  I will try to post some of them as soon as I finish painting my own version!

Going Vertical

 I often forget to think like  a decorator.  And one format that painters tend to forget is the vertical.  Verticals emphasize the height of a room or fill a small wall space where a horizontal would be squeezed.

As a landscape painter, it is not always easy to design a vertical composition.  But if you look for tall subjects within a landscape, you can narrow the scope of your painting.  Case in point:  a waterfall!

Also notice the "S" curve formed by the light shapes.

Numbers

Here's one more sketch.  This scene has been painted so often by local painters in Boothbay that it's referred to as Motif #1.

An often touted rule in painting and drawing is to use an odd number of objects (3, 5, 7) rather than an even number.  This is probably because an even number might create a balance that is too symmetrical, i.e., two on one side and two on the other.  Just remember that one side or section of your composition has to "win".  If both sides are equal, there will be no clear focal point. 

You can either see this composition as five buildings or three.The three buildings in the center are grouped as two against one.  The hints of the other two buildings make it three on one side and two on the other.

Back to the Basics

Sometimes when I'm at a loss about what to paint next, I get out my sketchbook and do what I first did when I started my art journey so many years ago.  Drawing and sketching can reintroduce me to the joy of expressing myself with the strokes of a pencil.  Nothing fancy...a #2H and a #2B.  These days I'm more interested in finding values than I was when I was younger and concerned with outlines. Values rather than lines define the edges of things.  Keeping the strokes short and staccato also makes them more interesting.
Here's a scene I can draw in my sleep:  Ram Island Lighthouse off Ocean Point in Boothbay Harbor.

Critique

Here's a link to the St. Louis Watercolor Society's video of Stephen Quiller commenting on the winning paintings in their annual exhibition, including mine.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY1r67SBUyg&feature=youtu.be

Last of a series

This is the last of the beach shack series for a while.  The search for a new subject is not easy. It feels like looking for visual candy when all I see are visual vegetables.  I'll keep you posted.

Recognition

Most of an artist's time is spent in the studio or plein air painting.  Ours is basically a solitary profession, so there must be pleasure in the doing, satisfaction in the process. 

But if we've worked hard, paid our dues, and learned our craft, for a brief, shining, hopeful moment,  we can celebrate our growth in the spotlight.  It's not "Look at me", or "Look what I've done";  it's "Let's share the enjoyment of the fruits of our labors."  The work is still the most important thing.

So I'm proud to announce that two of my paintings have been accepted for the 2012 St. Louis Watercolor Society's Annual Exhibit, and that one of them ----- "Eastpoint Shoreline"----won an Award of Achievement (3rd place).  The juror/judge was nationally known painter and author Stephen Quiller.  The exhibit will be on display at the Creative Art Gallery here in St. Louis for the month of April.  Friday night is the awards ceremony. 

The Power of the Silhouette

In this painting of Jackson Square in New Orleans, the silhouetted statue of Jackson has very little detail, but that does not lessen its impact.  The viewer doesn't need every detail of the saddle, the folds of the uniform, or the carved letters on the base.  The silhouetted shape of horse and rider is very clear without those details.

I've said it before:  Providing all the details in the interior of a shape will never save a bad shape.  Let the silhouette carry the day.

Diminishing Repeats

In the last entry, I talked about the power of the diminishing repeat.  When depicting similar objects in a group, if many details are included in the foreground object, fewer details are needed as the objects recede in space.  The eye will just fill in the missing textures or interior details.

Here's another illustration of the concept.

Looking Back

This week while going through some slides of my old work, I found this painting I did nearly twenty five years ago.  It's reproduced from a photo made from a slide, so the color is not at all accurate.  But it illustrates the idea of "the diminishing repeat." 

This concept is that if foreground details are explained thoroughly, then repeats of the same subject receding in space need fewer and fewer details.  The eye just fills in the missing elements.  By the time you get to the last Indian, there are just dots of color which you assume are horses and braves.
You can do this with boats or people or almost anything that comes in groups.

Variations On A Theme

Sometimes I like to play with a theme.  I'll change the colors, the temperature, add some elements, remove others.  There's a freedom in having the subject matter decided so that other concerns can be addressed.

By the way, feel free to become a Follower or leave a comment or reaction.  Sometimes I just need to know I'm reaching readers!

A Trail of White

Areas of white or light values are attractors.  So it only makes sense to plan them carefully.  Isolating light areas causes the viewer to jump around the surface, not knowing where to focus. 

Leaving escape routes of connected white allows the eye to travel in a logical sequence.  In this painting of shoreline shacks, the largest shape is the building on the left.  By letting the light connect to the laundry, the eye is led to the second shack.  Next, the white proceeds downward toward the beach and over to the boat.

Emphasizing the light shapes by placing darks near them further helps the eye by providing an obvious contrast.

Let the light leak!

Foreground Plane

As I wrote in the last post, here is another version of some shacks in Naples, Florida.  In this version, the foreground plane on the near bank is emphasized.  It not only frames the shacks, it also becomes a more important subject. 

More and more, though, I am favoring the single plane presentation.  Flattening the subject plane is one sure way to concentrate on design problems.

Florida Shacks

This is the first of two paintings I did of some shacks lining a creek in Naples, Florida.  It's basically a one plane subject.  The shacks are on the third and so are the palm trees.  The background and foreground water are deliberately kept simple so as to emphasize the subject plane. 

Next I'll show you what else I decided to do to this subject to create two planes.   

Florida is in the rear view mirror.  I'll be home tomorrow around noon.  It's been a fun and productive winter, but I'm ready to be home.  Now the challenge of finding subject matter in the studio.
Stay tuned!

Small and Silhouetted

The continuing series of small assembly line paintings.  This one is my homage to Winslow Homer.  Silhouettes work well to describe an object.  Not much texture within each shape.  The object is described at the outside edges.

Another Small Painting

 I'm on the road, so not much time for blogging.  Just ditto the last report with this small painting.

Small Paintings

In order to loosen up, I sometimes set up an assembly line of small format pieces of paper.  I tape as many as five pieces of paper down on my masonite board.  Then I start painting the first wash on one and then the next, and then the next.  By the time I've painted several of these, I return to the first one which by then is dry, and proceed to the second wash on all the  paintings.  Finally, I place the darks strategically around the focal points. 

This production line procedure not only helps to speed up my painting, thereby keeping a looser result, but I tend to repeat the same color schemes as well as rearranging the same objects into  different compositions.  This creates a small series which helps solidify an idea, a technique or a compositional problem.

Here are two paintings done in this manner.  Hey!  If it was good enough for Henry Ford.....well, you see where I'm going!