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Autumn Grove Demonstration
This is a step by step demo of one of my approaches. Of the approaches that I like to paint in, this one has the most natural looking finish. There is a lot of pallet knife and varied brush-work on top of a strong drawing done in the color harmony of the piece. While this is a small painting, I think it exemplifies this process to a tee. I let the subject matter, and the varying amount of detail dictate my approach. For instance, in a foggy or heavy atmospheric scene, I may go a lot thicker with my paint application with less of an under painting. In a scene where there is a very strong color harmony, or a lot of detail, this “building up” approach works well.
To pull this approach off the best, I start with white canvas. I work the underpainting like a watercolor with NO use of white. First though, is a very quick line drawing showing the unseen lines that will allow movement through the painting. Later these lines subordinate in to the edges of shapes…
Next I’ll block in the values and since COLOR IS VALUE, I am less concerned with perfect color accuracy and more concerned with effective value relationships and harmony. I let the white of the canvas show through the paint application as if I was using white mixed in. Without the use of white in the mixtures, the values are very malleable. I can still get the darkest darks and the darker values remain warmer and more controlled. I only use a brush and a paper towel to wipe out lighter areas(not unlike the use of a kneaded eraser in a charcoal drawing). The wiping out of areas is a very effective tool for creating the look of foliage, brick and brack, and refining shape and overlaps in order to sell the depth of a piece. It’s important to put the darkest darks in before white is introduced to the color.
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The feel of a piece changes once I start adding white to the color to achieve more sophisticated grays. I stay very conscious of the changes as I want to maintain the feeling of rich color and the general warmth of the piece. I will institute the use of the pallet knife at this point and change frequently from brush to pallet knife in order to achieve a variety of texture. I now add more subtle changes in temperature within the established masses and sharpen and soften edges in order to sell importance and depth through selling effective overlapping. Putting in the darkest darks before this stage allows me to paint in to them in painterly ways making them recede into depths. .
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In the end I want to achieve a solidity to the trunks of the aspen, maintain an interesting Autumn feel to the color harmony, and make the viewer feel like they’re right there walking through this grove. With aspen I think it’s important to show not only the roundness of the trunk, but also the bulge where the trunk builds to meet a scar or old branch. For the foreground, a variety of texture and application of paint creates an effect of ferns and shrubs that blanket this forest’s floor. I have a bit of light coming in through the canopy behind the two main trees that provides an interesting enough support for my focal point.
Let me know your thoughts!!
4 Responses to “Autumn Grove Demonstration”
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Thanks for sharing your process, Josh! A few questions came up as I was reading this: Was this done in your studio or in the field? It looks like you were able to wipe out some very nice lights in the beginning – sometimes I have trouble with this and I wonder if it has to do with my support, or If I just need to be bolder and use some turp or OMS on my rag to wipe away the pigment. Do you have any thoughts about that? And, what’s the final size of the painting?
This is beautiful every step of the way, nice work!
Nice demo, I like that you are talking about adding the more subtle grays after the initial block-in, it makes a big difference to have some clean warm color underneath.
[...] in the color harmony of the piece. While this is a small painting, I think it exemplifies…see full demo. Posted by vincefazio Filed in Uncategorized Leave a Comment [...]
Lovely piece. Curious as to how the painting can look so loose and painterly after so many layers of detail are applied.