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Since I said that I was going to paint the previous post's drawing, I felt obligated to wait until I had actually painted it. I've done several other paintings in the interim, but wanted to be sequential.
Anyway, this rock is one of my favorite things to look at while sitting on the dock every afternoon.
I decided to paint it with a very limited palette: yellow ochre, burnt sienna and ivory black, which I've just recently added to my palette. Neutralized primary colors: yellow, red and blue-black. the yellow ochre forms the under wash and the light shapes, the burnt sienna is the midtone, and when mixed with black you have the darks. Texture was kept to a minimum while tone and value changes were done wet-into-wet for a nice contrast between hard and soft areas.
I have some more paintings done, some in my sketchbook and some in my head. This always happens in September. I start seeing paintings everywhere, and love experimenting. Perhaps it's the shift in the light which intensifies the shadows. Maybe it's the realization that time is limited and I must make use of every day.
Good luck to all my friends in Florida who are dealing with storm damage and flooding. You're in my thoughts.
I was sitting on my dock yesterday when I looked up the cove to my right. Just then, a lone seagull landed near a big rock that I like to sketch and paint. As he (she?) came in for his landing, I felt a tug on my heart strings for this very special place. There are seagulls everywhere here and it's easy to get used to seeing them and taking them for granted. But this lone bird symbolized everything I love about Maine.
It's nice to have an "idea" about a painting, but sometimes it's important to respond emotionally to your surroundings and let them become the motivation for your painting subject matter.
Working from sketch to the drawing on the watercolor paper has become a more important process for me this summer. I can work out composition and value placement in advance in the sketch which helps me bang into the painting with quickness and confidence.
Next post.....the painting.
The gazebo at the Newagen Inn is really a weathered, dark, gray brown. Somebody once told me that brown is just a dirty orange, so I decided to push that idea to enliven the subject. I painted the sky and then the gazebo first. When I put down the first wash of orange, it was a bit shocking, but gradually after the blue background trees and the darker green foreground trees were added, the orange seemed a bit tamer.
Another tip: I pre-wet the page to paint the sky and while this was still wet, I dashed in the orange. This resulted in a blurry, soft-edged area. When it dried, I was able to cut around the gazebo with the darker values. This approach, in which you don't stop at the edges of the gazebo, avoids a cut out, pasted-on look, as well as creating an undertone that gives the background and the gazebo something in common.
The mark of a beginning painter is the unimaginative blue sky, painted with the same hue and value all the way down to the horizon. No gradation or color change. Clouds are not designed well to enhance the composition. In watercolor, often Kleenex is used to blot out clouds, creating a surface that has been disturbed.
Better to paint the clouds first and plan the placement of clouds. Then, paint the sky around them while the cloud area is still wet to achieve soft edges.
While painting with the Plein Air Painters of Maine (PAPME) this week, the sky looked rather threatening as the clouds moved in. Being true to the atmosphere of the day, I decided to paint the bright area of the sky yellow and then paint the oncoming clouds a neutral gray. When that dried, I was able to move down the page painting the background headlands and the negative spaces around the boat.
Deciding whether or not to include clouds is also important. Since this painting was about the weather, clouds were there to tell the story. No blues were required!
Repetition can occur with colors, textures, direction, line, and shapes.
In this painting of a flower stall at the Farmers Market on Boothbay Common, the triangular shapes of the tents and the roof of the gazebo repeat. There is some variation in the size and colors within the shapes, but clearly the triangular shapes dominate the scene.
The biggest value contrast occurs in the middle area where the figures are central to the focal point. The colors are also more intense there and both the values and the colors gradate away from that area.
I kept the background trees quiet and simple so that your eye would travel to the center of interest. The tree shape provides a clear edge contrast, but that's all it needed to do. Notice, too, the subtle color changes introduced in that shape while the area was still wet.
I go to the Farmers Market on Boothbay Common every Thursday, but I usually only buy a handpicked bouquet. The vendor at the flower stall immediately recognizes me, and always compliments me on the colors I choose and the textural variety. So, again....paint what you love!
I've painted this iconic church in Boothbay Harbor for 37 years. Each year I've struggled to portray the lovely details of its exterior. The windows especially are charming.
But this year, I decided to simplify the depiction of those details. I concentrated on the silhouette of the church and chose to emphasize the figures coming out of the church after Sunday morning mass.
Most of the "action" centers around the doorway and the statue of Mary on the lawn. I decided to make that area the staccato textural interest of the scene, and hence, the biggest area of contrast in values.
Backlighting is a great tool for including figures.
A note about painting plein air: I painted with the Plein Air Painters of Maine today, as I do most Wednesdays in summertime. However, this morning, I broke two of my cardinal rules. Wear a hat, and bring something cool to drink. I got severely overheated by the time I was finishing this painting. Heat stroke is not something you want to fool around with. I immediately went home and got into a cold shower!
While I was designing this composition, I had so many things to think about. The accuracy of the drawing, the placement of the boats, the size of the boats, the number of boats, the color contrast.
l. Papa, Mama, Baby. The size of the boats.
2. Obliques supply the action.
3. On the thirds: The "star" boat.
4. The modeling of the sails.
5. The muted colors.
6. The rhythm of the water as told by the swing of my brush.
7. How much detail to include to tell the story of the rigging without overdoing it.
I often tell my students to avoid the temptation to depict waves and reflections with hard, parallel lines. Also, white sails are often darker than the sky, and the sky doesn't always have to be blue. In this case, it would have been too jarring and would drag your eye up where I didn't want it to go. I left the sky white until the very end, and then just used dirty water to hint at some distant clouds.
I love the design of Friendship sloops. Meant for hauling freight, they nevertheless have a gracefulness, especially in the lovely curve of the bow. I'll be painting more of them very soon.
Nothing says sunlight like the inclusion of some really bold darks in a painting. Oftentimes, my students are afraid of glazing a very dark value over an area for fear of ruining their painting, when actually it might enhance it.
The good news is that, because watercolor dries lighter than the wash looks when it is wet, the addition of a dark shouldn't be so frightening.
At a certain point in my artistic development, I would often get to a stage in a painting where I thought all was lost. That is when I discovered the power of adding a dark. I thought, what do I have to lose? In many cases, the dark would provide just the "punch" that was needed.
Be bold in the lights and midtones, and fearless when adding darks!
This is a scene that is familiar to everyone on the Boothbay peninsula. The Civil war statue and the town office are part of the very quaint center of the town of Boothbay.
Edgar Whitney urged his followers to "avoid monotony en route." A straight, unbroken line is monotonous, and needs to be broken up. In this painting of an old dory beached under a tree, the far shore line is broken by the interruption of two sailboat masts. The bottom of the dory forms another line, but it is broken by buckets and buoys intruding into the shape of the boat.
Drawing boats is simplified if you think of the figure 8 on its side. The far side of the boat is more or less a straight line while the curve of the hull occurs on the side nearest you. Also, watch where the lines intersect and how they slant.
Overlapping is one of the best ways to achieve atmospheric perspective. The closer the plain is to you, the darker it becomes.
There is so much to think about when you contemplate a painting. The real fun begins when you can anticipate the problems before you start to paint!
I have a hard time accepting commissions because the customer usually has a preconceived idea of what the painting will look like. Despite the fact that they have identified with my style of painting, they seem to expect an illustration of their chosen subject. Details become more important than anything else in the painting.
But when I got an email asking if a certain painting I did a couple years ago was for sale, I had to tell the potential buyer that the painting had already been sold. I offered to try to re-create the painting with the caveat that it would not exactly duplicate the original painting. She agreed.
I liked the assignment because I was familiar with the subject, and thought I could reasonably approach the painting process with confidence that I could reproduce the same mood and composition in the original.
The client liked the result. I was pleased because I thought I made several improvements to the original work. The painting is now on its way to the client who intends it as a wedding gift to her son and new daughter-in-in law who will celebrate their small wedding on the site of this lake in Maine.
Know what you can offer in commissions and what you are able to compromise to complete the project.
In this painting, I worked from a sketch that I made of Jackson Falls in New Hampshire. I've done several waterfall paintings lately. Painting moving water is a challenge. But waterfalls are fairly consistent and allow for study. Besides, I love standing near them and listening to the pounding water.
I painted the water first. It was the focal point, the largest shape in the composition, and the lightest shape. Study the shape and you'll see that it interlocks with the rocks on shore, making it an irregular shape.
Finding a subject that appeals to you can solve the problem of what to paint when you can't think of anything else to paint.
To celebrate the Fourth of July, I just had to paint the flag. This one is proudly displayed at a cottage on Ocean Point. Happy Independence Day, Everyone!
Contrast is the key to achieving the portrayal of sunlight. The feeling of light falling on the landscape can best be highlighted by the shadows surrounding it. Many painters become timid when painting cast shadows and don't paint them dark enough. The values then don't contrast enough and result in a tepid portrayal of the light.
Another consideration is to place the biggest contrast strategically. If the darkest values extend everywhere, the eye will wander around the painting. Consider gradating the darks so that the contrasts diminish.
Happy Fourth of July!
If you can stop and identify what you want the focal point of your painting to be before you start to paint, there are there are at least three ways to emphasize that area.
First, size. A large shape will obviously command more attention than lots of scattered shapes. In the case of this painting of a lobster boat, I brought it closer to the viewer than it actually was. If it were smaller, the water area would have increased, thereby diminishing the attention on the boat.
Second, color. It was the bright yellow buoys and flags that caught my eye on site. Emphasizing them required both contrast with more muted colors surrounding them, and the use of yellow's complement, violet.
Third, elimination of background "noise". On location, the rest of the harbor with its wharves, boats and buildings were all visible. The temptation to be accurate and "truthful" is strong, but eliminating distracting objects is crucial to keep the viewer's eye from wandering away from your chosen focal point.
Naming the focal point prior to painting will aid you in deciding how to draw attention to it.
Boothbay Shores
At Boothbay Shores just around the cove from my cottage, I ran into a group of painters taking an oil workshop with Don Demurs. It was almost high tide and the surf was up. I decided to exaggerate the height of the waves, and to include a figure that wasn't there. The sound of the surf lingered in my ears long after returning to the cottage, and the feel of the sunlight on my skin was a welcome warmth after the cool weather of the first half of the month. The sensory delights of painting outdoors contributes to the overall painting experience and the eventual outcome of the painting.
Compositional considerations: The top of the wave breaks the straight line of the headland. The diagonals in the rock shapes and the surf provide tension. The little figure gives a spot of life to the scene. And the reflections in the wet sand supply a soft relief to the hard edged rocks.
It's summer! Get outside and paint!
P.S. There are still openings for my Boothbay Harbor workshop
August 29 - September 2. Inquiries: Email me at caroljessen@yahoo.com for more information.
About fifteen years ago, I was painting on Boothbay Common when it dawned on me that I didn't have to encapsulate the whites and limit them to the exact space within an object. A shape could become more interesting if the light leaked out of the object and flowed into the surrounding area.
If that's hard to understand, look at this painting of Old Orchard Pier. The lighted sides of the building "leak" out into the building next to it or the dock itself or into the edge of the surf. This approach creates more interesting shapes than mere rectangles contain. Trace your finger around the whites and you'll see that the shapes that are formed by the leaky light are much more entertaining than a more accurate depiction of the scene.
Also, the imprecise edges in the pilings and the buildings give some relief to a static rendering with very rigid, straight lines.
Hendrick's Head Beach
I painted today with the Plein Air Painters of Maine. As soon as the first clean washes were done, passers-by began to stop and comment on how much they loved the color. They didn't say, Where's the texture? or Where's the detail? The simplicity of the clean, glowing color was enough to attract their attention. Later, a couple came by and bought the painting.
Keep it very simple and untextured in the early stages of your painting!
Many painters like to go straight for the final color and skip the all important first wash of foundation colors. The underpainting can do several things:
1. It replaces the pure white paper with a colored light value.
2. It provides a color that, when other colors are place on top of it, creates a new hue. For example,
yellow and blue make green, so why not put down a first wash of yellow and then, when it dries,
place a blue on top to make the green.
3. An underpainting gives the painting a color theme. When you leave some of it showing, it creates
a unity throughout the piece.
In this painting of Dingman's Falls in eastern Pennsylvania, you can see pinkish and yellow tones in the light tones of the rocks, and the even in the falls. Also, I usually start any clump of foliage with a yellow wash first, even if most of it is covered up by subsequent washes.
I still have openings for my Boothbay Harbor workshop August 29 - September 2. Email inquiries to
caroljessen@yahoo.com
I've taken a leisurely trip back to Maine this year; six nights on the road. On the way, I've stopped at several waterfalls, most enjoyably, Dingman's Falls in far eastern Pennsylvania, Jackson Falls in New Hampshire, and Small Falls, just south of Rangeley, Maine. Yesterday I painted Small Falls. Hazard of plein air painting? I was gobbled on by black flies. The suckers anaesthetize you and then bite until they draw blood, which is when you finally notice you've been attacked.
Anyway, I should have gotten hazardous duty pay yesterday. It did, however, force me to paint quickly. But the scene was lovely and the sound of the rushing water was mesmerizing. I stood on an old log bridge, relishing the warm weather and blue skies.
Now I'm here in Maine settling in for the summer. Don't forget to sign up soon for my workshop here in Boothbay Harbor.....August 29 - September 2. Tuition remains steady at $400. Contact me at:
caroljessen@yahoo.com
This painting was done from a photograph that I took way back in 1973 on a trip to the Spanish island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean. The little girl, the old well, the trees and the wall were all in the photo. The wall was barely visible, but I decided that I needed it to provide a much need horizontal. To make it more prominent, I added some mountains in the background for a value contrast.
Then the problem was that there was nothing going on to break up the white space and the straight line of the wall which was pointing out of the painting. So I decided to add a clothesline. I also added a woman hanging the clothes. I still needed a bit more action, so I threw in a couple of goats and two chickens.
Notice, too, that the cast shadows are less and less textured as you move away from the center of interest, allowing the figure to remain the center of interest.
Use a little imagination and add components that enhance the composition and the story element to your painting.
Don't give up on me for the next week or so. I'm hitting the road to return to my beloved Maine for the summer. I'll be stopping in New Hampshire and northwestern Maine and may be able to squeeze in a few paintings on the way. (I always put my easel on top of the suitcases for easy access in case I'm tempted by a scene!) If I do, I'll post them. See you in Maine!
Friends' Rock at Oven's Mouth
My friend Flora's birthday was May 11th. She's been gone ten years now, but I still think of her often. We would sometimes hike a root-infested trail out to a rock at the end of Oven's Mouth Preserve in Boothbay, Maine, where we would enjoy a thermos of coffee and donuts. I cherish those conversations and time together with a cherished friend. So, on her birthday, to honor her memory, I painted the two of us sitting on that rock. R.I.P., Flora.
Kaaterskill Falls
In this painting of Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskills, it was important to design the shape of the waterfall carefully while staying true to the actual scene. So I designed the shape of the falls first. I needed to be mindful of keeping that shape clear. The way to do that, I decided, was to eliminate many of the "stripes" indicating the rocks underneath the falling water. This was especially important in the larger fall on the left. Leaving the white untouched maintained the integrity of the shape. Suggesting the hidden rocks there would have broken up the shape.
Another decision was important to the composition. I included the tree trunks in the left foreground to keep the viewer from wandering off the page. I kept the background simple. On the right, I broke up the tree shape with a lighter shape within it. The temptation might have been to indicate more tree trunks there. But the light shape already did its job by pointing back to the falls, and without the details of more trunks, the shape was kept in the background.
Restricting the details within a shape keeps the design in tact. Remember to keep focusing on the shapes and to limit the details to only those that come in aid of the overall composition.
Every spring I start to anticipate my departure for Maine. The reunion with old friends, plenty of subject matter to paint, and just the mere trip there with stops along the way start my pulse going a little bit faster.
I also look forward to conducting my annual workshop in Boothbay Harbor. It is headquartered at the Lions Club, an old building converted from schoolhouse to a big, open meeting space. It's on a quiet side street only a couple of minutes from downtown. There is plenty of space to spread out on a rainy day, but also handy to other favorite painting locations: the Harbor with all its boats, lighthouses, rocky shorelines, tree lined coves, and quaint streets. These are the sights that I've loved for 36 years.
This year's workshop will be held from August 29th - Sept. 2nd. Tuition remains steady at $400 for the five day workshop. Just down the block from the Lions Club is Beach Cove Resort, perched high on a hill overlooking West Harbor Pond. Many students choose to stay there because of its convenient and quiet location. My favorite Inn in Boothbay Harbor is the award winning Topside Inn. Their full breakfasts change daily and are abundant beyond belief! The décor is stunning, as is the view of the whole bay from the top of McKown Hill. On the quiet side of the Harbor is Brown's Wharf, featuring a fine restaurant on the property, an up-close view of yachts, lobster boats and sailboats. You can also check out the Chamber of Commerce's website for more lodging options.
The workshop is fun and informative. The focus changes from year to year, and this summer I will focus on translating strong, clear values into vibrant colors. A small sketchbook will be very useful.
So reserve your spot and make your lodging reservations soon. This will be a vacation and a painting experience you'll long remember!
For more information email me at caroljessen@yahoo.com
Sometimes the reality of a scene contains natural compositional aids. In this case, all lines lead to the crane and the tugboat. The tower in the background also leads downward toward the boat. The shoreline forms another pointer as does the reflection in the water.
If pointer lines do not occur naturally, think about ways to invent them.
I spotted this statue titled "Perpetual Mourner" in St. Louis' Bellefontaine Cemetery. After doing the value sketch and the drawing on the watercolor paper, I looked at it for hours, trying to decide which colors to use. To convey the mood, I decided against using warm colors. Then suddenly it occurred to me that black and white would communicate the mood and the grief better than any color could.
I also abstracted and softened the tree shapes in the background. Local color would have called for green, but continuing the use of grays was imperative to maintain the unity and mood of the painting.
The mysterious figure hidden within the shroud is ambiguous about its gender. Grief is grief, no matter the sex of the mourner.
"I see a red door and I want to paint it black..."
One of the more difficult things for beginning watercolor painters to do is to paint a dark shape with confidence. To hit the paper with enough paint to make a bold statement with a dark value is a hard step to make.
If you are timid with a dark in the first wash, and discover that the dark you thought was dark enough, you will try to go back and make it darker, only to discover that the area becomes muddy. Too much water is usually the suspect. Darkening an area requires a bold application with lots of paint.
Oftentimes, the paint is applied on the first go around, and then when it starts to dry, the artist goes back in when the paper is still damp. Try to be patient and wait until the area is completely dry before trying a second wash. Better yet, go darker than you think the area should be on the first application to insure its freshness.
As Ed Whitney said, "If it looks right when it's wet, it's wrong." More paint and less water will result in purer darks and movement in the paint if applied quickly.
Monhegan Lighthouse
The problem of where to cut off the parts of a structure can either bring the viewer's eye back into the composition or direct it off the page. If, in the painting, I had chosen to depict the top part of the roof, it would have formed an arrow straight out of the painting. Likewise the right part of the roof would have attracted too much attention if the whole rooftop had been squeezed into the composition.
.Also the little pine trees on the left are cut off in order to divide the sky and the lawn into more interesting shapes.
I suggest that you think about cutting off parts of structures or natural elements to favor the shapes, lines and directions in your painting.
One of the principles of art is contrast. Contrast of color is at work in this painting of an old bridge in Toledo, Spain. The warm color on the land and the bridge contrast with the blue in the sky and water, with the warm dominating. There are also contrasts of values. The focal point of the bridge is where the highest contrast occurs, thus directing your eyes to that point.
By limiting the palette and using the dominant warm color, the painting emphasizes the warmth of the land and the sun. Be conscious of the choices you make concerning color, and ensure mood of your painting when choosing a dominant.
This is another in my ongoing series of bridge paintings.
When translating the values in my previous post into color, I decided to go for a very limited palette of muted colors. I hoped that the values would tell the story. Using very vivid colors would create a completely different emphasis.
That said, I might try this scene again with a more colorful palette to see what that might produce.
Watch this space!
Bad Kreuznach, Germany
More and more, I take great pleasure in preparing to paint. Value studies are one way to ramp up my confidence and enthusiasm for the painting ahead. Pencil in hand, I can make decisions about how to guide the viewer's eyes around the paper. I also like the feel of the pencil against the page.
Here's a view of the little German town where I taught high school English back in the '70's. The silhouette is pleasing to me with the spires jutting up into the sky. I also enjoy thinking about how to indicate the background with very little detail. Now I can think in terms of color, trying out combinations in my head.
Take time to prepare, and your painting process will be much more enjoyable.
Keep it simple, stupid.
In this painting of sea stacks, I kept the shapes simple. The cliffs and their shadows blended into simple shapes. The differing shades of the sand were reduced to three values. The sea was one simple color broken only by the whites which represent the waves, and the sea stacks which are all different shapes and sizes.
But most of all, simplicity was achieved by eliminating as much texture as possible.
There are several ways to regain the light areas in watercolor. In this painting of a statue in the historic Village on Longboat Key, Florida, I painted the entire background first, not avoiding the area where the statue would eventually appear. When the page was thoroughly dry, I used a brush with clear water in it and applied it to areas where I wanted to regain the light. I let it set for about 10 -15 seconds and then wiped it with a Kleenex. Practically all the color is removed, almost down to the white paper.
This will not work well with staining colors like thalo blue, thalo green, and alizarin crimson. Avoid those colors in the underpainting.
This is especially helpful in regaining highlights.
Here is a photo I took on St. George Island on the Florida Panhandle. I liked the figure of the surf fisherman, and thought it would make a good painting. My first attempt was more or less a copy of the photo, and was a miserable failure. The figure was large, and the surf was confusing. I decided to de-emphasize the figure and concentrate on the surf in the second painting.
I placed the figure on the thirds and simplified the surf. I used some other source material for the surf. I also decided that the sky was too flat and formed an uninteresting rectangle, so I added some tension with the storm clouds approaching.
Lesson? Don't be tied to the composition or details in a photo. Move things, combine things, change colors, anything to aid the painting.
The lightest part of the painting is the oyster boat. The retaining walls, which are a muted pink, and the pink in the larger tree, contrast with the green foliage and the green boat. The darks surrounding the light banana leaves punch them out.
Study the compositional lines and shapes in this painting as well.
Here I am, in Apalachicola, Florida. Last night we had a terrific storm; lightning, high winds and downpours. The sun came out this morning, but the wind persisted, so I was once again forced to paint in my room here at Sportsmans Lodge.
I looked through my photos of this fall and found one of a famous bakery/restaurant on the Hill, the Italian section of St. Louis. Amighetti's is a well known landmark destination in a section of town where Yogi Berra was born, as well as Joe Garagiola. The green awning and the building across the street with its cupola appealed to me, so I decided to paint that famous corner.
Take your camera with you to your favorite section of your hometown, and photograph the buildings there with an eye for the composition.
In my last post, I explained the approach of alternation which featured a mainly monochromastic value system. Today's painting takes that same approach but in color.
Also in this painting, two other contrasts are present: soft edges vs. hard edges, and complementary colors (blue and orange).
Interestingly, I had a gallery owner tell me today that she thought this painting was an illustration. Any thoughts on that?
In this painting of a dock in Eastpoint, Florida, I concentrated more on values than color. I used basically three values and alternated them. I tried to place a dark value next to a midtone which is next to a light value. This checkerboard effect is also enhanced by making some dark shapes larger than others. It is the midtones that hold the painting together while the darks and lights help cast your eyes around the surface of the painting.
This technique is harder than it sounds and requires planning. The first step is to establish the lights by painting the midtones. The darks are then placed strategically so that the three values are contiguous.
Practice this technique a few times as an abstract design to get the hang of it. Try leaving large whites, small darks, and anchoring midtones. Then try midtones that isolate small whites alternated with darks. Practice, practice, practice.
An accurate silhouette can eliminate the need for details in the interior. Additionally, if the silhouette is an interesting shape, it will interlock with the negative space and create more interesting shapes there.
Trace your finger along the edge of the tugboat shape and you will see that it avoids straight lines and static shapes. Circles, rectangles and triangles don't interlock with the background and become boring shapes that create more boring shapes.
Also the shape of the tug is extended into the reflection in the water.
Most of my value studies also concentrate on a silhouetted shape of some sort.
This is the Catholic Church in Apalachicola, Florida. But I love the old live oak in the foreground.
Again I've used the red-green contrast. The red-orange tiled roof is warm with the rest of the painting fairly cool by contrast.
Say hello to the New Year by getting out your paints and starting fresh. Resolution? Paint more in 2016!
Happy New Year, everyone!
If you want to achieve depth in your landscapes, I suggest overlapping planes and value differences.
In this painting of a canyon in Turkey Run State Park in Indiana, the darker foreground overlaps the lighter, steep rocky wall in the distance. The overlap and the receding values emphasize the coolness of the canyon before it opens up into the light.
A third way to achieve a feeling of depth is to have the distant tones become more cool as they fade into the distance. However, this painting gets warmer in the background which opens up the vista.
Think of values first and color second. Overlapping is a great tool to accomplish the sense of distance.
Linking darks is one way to create more interesting shapes. It can also help lead the eye around the painting as well as stop the eye.
In this painting of another Parke County bridge, the foreground shadow leads into the dark reflections in the water. That takes you up to the reflection of the bridge and then to the dark shape of the bridge. Linking the bridge to the dark trees prevents the shape from becoming a boring rectangle. It also tends to stop the viewer's eye, sending it back to the bridge.
I've become more aware of the importance of darks in my compositions. Students have a difficult time committing to darks or using enough paint to achieve a dark value. In watercolor, the old ad that said, A little dab'll do ya does not apply!
I've travelled to Parke County, Indiana several times. There are more covered bridges in this county than any other in the United States. In my series featuring bridges, I've shifted my attention from Acadia to Indiana's covered bridges.
Not only has the form changed, but the textures have, too. Acadia's bridges are made of stone; covered bridges are made of wood. The textures in the Acadian forests have been replaced by more simplified shapes in the landscape of Indiana.
The complementary colors still apply, though. Pink has given way to barn red which is a nice foil to the different values of green.
I love bridges!
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