Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Receding Spring Water ~ 11" x 14" Oil on panel
Finally, things seem back to normal. Windows had to be reinstalled and I lost a few things. But hey,..now it is onward and upward.
In the above painting, I used a panel that was last prepared with a number five (approx.) value gray. Once I had decided on the composition of my piece and with the basic colours in my mind, I proceeded to lay it in (composition) with a runny mixture of Alizarin and Cadmium Red. (I did not cover the whole surface of the panel with the Red this time.) This left the sky and water area of the panel with a gray dry surface. The procedure then was to lay in my darks and shadow areas thinly on the wet Red. At this point, I then painted in the sky and water in order to establish a light value on the gray surface. I think the contrast in the visual at this point gave me a better idea of the middle values and how I should proceed. Now, I worked into the darker areas with lighter values to help define the impression of the objects and continued, overlapping into the lightest areas, defining to a more finished state.
Breaking the painting down into these steps, so to speak, made the method more methodical and less intuitive. I think that this was probably a good "take stock" revue exercise.
The colours for this painting were from my usual limited palette.
til next.

6 comments:

Jennifer McChristian said...

Wonderful use of warm/cool color.
Love the bold, confident brushstrokes.

Keith Tilley said...

Hello Frank. This is an interesting technique. As I understand it, you are effectively using two different ground colours to create a warm/cool contrast.

Frank A. said...

Jennifer. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy sheduale to leave a comment on my blog. Appreciate it.
I wish you all the best with your show in N.Y. It is on as I wright. Beautiful pieces ! Congratulations.

Do take care. : )

Frank A. said...

Yeo, Keith..Basically, that is right. The first ground is a value five gray which is put on in the studio before leaving to paint. The second is dictated by the composition on site, whether it is to be warm or cool.
Hope this helps to explain. : )

'til next..

Michael Pieczonka said...

Frank, another winner. Thanks for the play by play too.. I always think I glean something here! Excellent job with the distant land mass and the slightly grayish area above the far trees top right. I don't know what it is.. but it really ads some spatial depth to this piece.

kudos.. Michael

Frank A. said...

Thanks Michael. Nice to have you dropping in .
Sometimes those "flurishes" such as you mention are just that,flurishes.I think they happen when I do not look at the scene while painting some passages. If they feel right after comparing, I just leave them, or modify a bit. Depends..
: )
Take care..