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Part one: about good drawing... I have heard from several sources that if a painting goes wrong it's usually in the first few minutes because of decisions, or lack of, by the artist. Drawing is a big one. Learning to place the subject accurately on canvas takes attention, intention and good eye-hand coordination. Anne Blair Brown is a pro at it...of course, she did go to art school, so... The photos demonstrate how a plein air artist begins a painting by sketching the lines and masses with brush and thinned oil paint. Anne likes to use burnt sienna because it gives a warm under layer that may glow through the finished painting. The above left photo shows how she divides the canvas into a grid of thirds to create a pleasing composition (rule of thirds), then begins to build the larger shapes of the trees, road, and hills. She showed us how to see lines of sight that lead to the focal point and bring the viewer into the painting. Within about 15 minutes or so, she had the bones (values, composition and simple shapes) of her painting ready for color. Below right is Anne working out the "drawing" of the subject scene, her easel is positioned to keep the palette and canvas out of direct light. The photo on the left is the completed "study", a good term for a quick painting that can be used to develop a larger more finished painting later in the studio. Or, it can also be declared finished, signed, and sold as is.
Thank you for reading my blog!! Stay tuned for more details and feel free to add your comments :))
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 So I haven't tended my blog well this April, but I still have much to say and share with all y'all. For the record, I have been painting a lot...including 18 hours at a workshop last week. I will be posting about that as well as all I've been learning from Frank Baggett in his Saturday classes. I spent a couple hours yesterday putting finishing touches on several paintings and signing them! They are 99% finished when signed; 100% finished when the varnish coat goes on. I'm trying to be much more disciplined with my personal art education goals, utilizing the wonderful resources at my fingertips via internet, youtube, books and videos. Sometimes it's my successes that illuminate my weaknesses. I have a significant deficit in the drawing department and would like to improve those skills. I take comfort that there are excellent artists out there who prefer not to draw, but I know I need at least the basics for my representational paintings to be believable. Impressionism can only take me so far...
Btw, I borrowed the photo above from my web host..not a painting :) Love Ya!! |
