Plane painting for landscapes

There is a classic art book called “Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting” by John F Carlson which was written in the middle of the last century but is still a much used resource for landscape painters today. Inside its covers is a wealth of information about the way to see and the way to paint, so I recommend getting your hands on a copy if you are into landscape painting.

One of the ideas he proposes is that there are planes in the landscape that help us see the landscape in simple value blocks and therefore we can simplify the way we paint it. He writes of four values which we should look for – light, semi-light, semi-dark and dark. These depend upon the amount of light from the sky that is hitting them.

1. So, the lightest value is the sky itself,

2. followed by the ground plane which is semi-light as it receives the most direct light from the sky.

3. Any mountains or distant things are semi-dark because they are at an angle to the sky,

4. and finally trees and anything else that is vertical receive the least direct light and are therefore the darkest value.

• 

• 

You can see it in action here. I did an experiment by cutting out some shapes from a piece of grey card, placing them in position (the hills slanting backwards, the trees and building vertical) and then photographed them with the light above. As you can see the sky is lightest, followed by the ground plane, then the distant hills and then the vertical elements are darkest value.

This is a handy rule to keep in mind, but of course there are exceptions to any rule.

• 

• 

On the left I moved the light source further back which created a backlit or even night-time scene. The four planes are still visible, and in the same order. On the right I moved the light source to the front and lower down to make an evening scene as if the sun was setting. As you can see the values of the four planes are different, but they are still clearly defined and separated from each other.

Here is the principle in action in the black and white version of my painting below. Can you see the four planes? Perhaps the sky and the ground are too similar, but certainly there are three value planes distinctly shown.

I hope this is a helpful insight into the world around us and how you might go about painting it.

#art #painting #learningtopaint #landscape #Composition #paintingtips #JohnFCarlson #inspiration

What colour are shadows?

Shadows can be tricky to paint. It’s not so much their shape, which is often clearly defined. The problem comes with mixing the right colour. After all, what colour is a shadow?

I’ve come across several ways of mixing a shadow colour, bearing in mind that the best way to paint a shadow is to also vary the colours within it. This in itself makes the shaded area more interesting, and more closely resembles what is actually happening within the shadow.

For instance any reflected colour bouncing into the shadow from nearby objects will alter the colours within that shadow.

You get more reflected light from objects near the beginning of the shadow, and this effect lessens as it moves away from the object that casts the shadow. The shadow also becomes bluer as more of the sky colour is incorporated in it.

The shadow will also be more distinct with sharper edges near the object that casts the shadow, and softer and slightly lighter as it moves away. Cast shadows in the distance are greyer and lighter than shadows in the foreground.

So, what colour are shadows?

One way to mix a shadow colour is to use the local colour (the ochre of a wall, the grey of a road, the green of grass) make a darker mix of this and add a little purple (the opposite of the sun’s yellow rays). Then modify this with any reflected or bounced light from nearby objects.

Another formula is to neutralise the local colour with either gray or a  complimentary colour (choose something from the other side of the colour wheel).

Finally, if you are painting in watercolour, then you can also simply paint a wash of shadow purple (ultramarine blue with a touch of cadmium red makes a good purple for this) over your local colour.

For the sunshine, add white to the local colour mix. As Colley Whisson says: “For light you need white.” In my oil painting I tend to use my “sunshine colour” (Naples Yellow Light), in place of or in addition to white. Pure white can cool colours down when what you want to do is warm them up.

In my plein air oil painting I used plenty of white to create the sunshine. My local colours were mixed with lots of white and naples yellow light to contrast with the shadow areas.

Just go for it!

And then of course you can just go for it and supercharge your shadow colours. I have always loved these paintings by John Singer Sergeant, really because of the wonderful colourful shadows. See how he uses intense colours for the shadows on the white walls of the building and on the ground! The same can be seen in the hull of the boat.

• 

• 

And how about this inspiration from the master of light and shade, Joaquin Sorolla. Look at the intense reflected light in the horse’s belly (that ochre from the sand and the blue of the water) and the way he handles the shadows in the girls’ dresses.

• 

• 

Well, I hope you have found this helpful. There is so much to learn about this tricky subject, but maybe some of this will help you in your painting.

#shadowcolours #learningtopaint #paintingshadows #shadows #oilpainting #watercolourpainting #paintingtips #lightandshade

Learning to see

Claude Monet said: “To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at. When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you – a tree, house, a field….Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives your own naive impression of the scene before you.”

That’s great advice, and is what I did here in this sketch. One shape painted against another, without drawing first. It’s a great way to learn to see what is in front of you. You have to look carefully, not at things, but at shapes, colours and values, and then paint what you see.

I’ve just completed a video for Artefacto using this technique of seeing and painting shapes, and it works! Just paint one shape to get started and then add others alongside it, using your first shape as a reference for size and colour. It’s a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. Piece-by-piece the picture comes together.

This technique also allows you to paint in hot countries where watercolour dries too fast on the paper. You only have to paint a small section at a time, so there is no worrying about the washes drying to fast. You can even stop for a cuppa between shapes!

So, if you have not tried this technique before, then give it a go! It really is easy, and I am sure it is something that we all need to learn. Seeing shapes and not “things” allows us to paint what is really there, not what our brains try and tell us is there. That should lead to better paintings!

Have fun!

ps. my online course with Artefacto is still being written (painted) and I hope will be available in a short while. I’ll let you know when 🙂

#art #painting #learningtopaint #watercolortips #watercolourpainting #arteducation #artist #paintingtips #watercolor