The Evolution of a Painting-Part 4

February 8, 2013 by admin

: Morning on the River, 20 x 20, UArt

In this final version, I have changed the tree in upper left completely in order to provide more sky and make it less domineering. Actually, there are now two trees: a spruce and a tree in fall foliage to its right. I added some warmer colors to the background trees at right and to the marshes on the left. And, I decided that the reeds were a distraction and took them out! With so much busyness on the left, the expanse of water with its changing colors is a welcome relief, I feel. The light water moving to the right is being caused by three ducks–little specks of dark color that can’t be seen in this image–that add interest to the painting. This picture was a struggle in many ways but I decided that I could make it work and kept an open mind as to what to retain, change or omit. While I’m sure it could be improved even more, I’m satisfied to let if rest for now. I think that the flow of shapes and values leads the eye to background and the sunny yellow sky and the tree at left does not dominate or disturb this flow.

The Evolution of a Painting-Part 3

February 8, 2013 by admin

Soft pastel applications for Morning on the River

Here is the painting with soft pastel applied in most places except the lower right and left. At this stage, my husband said the tree was too heavy and domineering and I had to agree with him! I also didn’t like the way the marshes were turning into gray color. I felt that I was applying too many layers of pastel and wasn’t sure where I was going. Was this supposed to be summer? I decided that I didn’t want it to be summer! If I wanted warm color, it would have to be early fall. So I got out my trusty brush and got rid of the tree and some of the color on the left. The next post will show the results.

The Evolution of a Painting-Part 2

February 8, 2013 by admin

Hard pastel application for Morning on the River

Having enjoyed my work with hard pastels when doing the studies, I decided to begin this painting with them, over the watercolor. This limited the lights that I could use, but provided many vibrant darks. I used a lot of Faber-Castell Polychromos in a variety of warm and cool colors, working back and forther from cool to warm and warm to cool. I did not limit my palette as I often like to do. In assessing the picture at this stage, I felt that the tree was too flat looking and rather dominating. I worked hard to distinguish the three clumps of marsh on the left, with shape and color.

The Evolution of a Painting-Part 1

February 8, 2013 by admin

Watercolor underpainting for Morning on the River

(Note: I’m having problems with multiple pictures in one post, so I’ll do this with four posts. I’ll also be able to say more about each.) After doing the color studies in my last post, I decided to use my last 20 x 20 UArt board for this painting. On Tuesday, I had a conversation with my class about how it can be difficult to move from a small study to a large painting. What works small doesn’t always work large. That could be the theme of this painting! As I worked on the underpainting, I decided that there would be too much water, so I added reeds in the lower right corner. I was also concerned about the prominence of the dark tree, but thought it would be OK once I developed it. I worked from a black and white photo taken in mid-summer when all was green. It was also early morning, so most of the foliage was dark. My goal was to make this into a warmer painting so I began with a warm underpainting of majentas, siennas, and turquoise. I applied a lot of watercolor, but it still faded, leaving uneven bands of really dark and light, particularly in the lower left. But I felt I had established a flow and had some color to work on top of. So far, so good!

Color Studies

February 5, 2013 by admin

Color Studies of Mattapoisett River

On Mondays I teach an advanced class all day. I encourage people to experiment but I’m usually the only one doing it! Yesterday I decided to play with color for a potential square painting of the Mattapoisett River in early morning light. I worked from a black and white photo and interpreted it loosely. I used 7 x 7 pieces of UArt (the strips cut from the 20 x 20s). All but the last one (lower right) were done solely with hard pastels–a combination of Faber Castell Polychromos and NuPastels. The last one was done this morning at home using my Terry Ludwig vibrants set and some Giraults. I began with the sky color and used different colors in each: clockwise from upper left: orange, blue, pink, and green. I’ve done many types of color studies over the years and often don’t do them at all. For these studies, I didn’t limit the palette and I applied warm over cool, cool over warm in many different layers. The one in upper right came out the coolest and is probably my favorite; the one below it is the warmest and my least favorite (which says something about my taste in colors). None of these have much relation to the photograph, which was totally green. I did add some greens in the upper right and lower left and this gives it a little more realistic look. But I wasn’t really aiming for that. It was more about shape, value, and temperature balance. I really liked what happened in the foreground grasses in the upper left picture, where I began with warm colors and layered a greenish blue on top. This is a good way of creating those odd sundown-type colors that are so hard to define. Playing is fun! I encourage everyone to do it–don’t just work on one painting after another.

Using analogous and complementary color

February 1, 2013 by admin

River Walk, 20 x 20, UArt

One of the things I love about winter is that I can work from photos without guilt! And one of the things I love about working from photos is the ability to think about them for awhile and play with various ideas. I began thinking about painting this scene from inland Maine on Monday and did sketches with a ball point pen on newsprint. Then, while driving to the grocery store on Thursday, I came up with the idea of doing an underpainting of complementary warm colors under the analogous warm and cool greens of the photo. The underpainting also allowed me to play with and improve on the composition: in the photo, there was a triangle of mown grass in the lower right and everything else was high bushes. The river was only visible on the right. By playing with shapes of darker value, I came up with a composition that invites the viewer to walk into the scene to the river. This painting is also about strokes. I used many small strokes of varying colors in all of the folieage and really had fun with oranges, using my new box of Dakota Blue Earth orange pastels. While the scene is a peaceful one, the strokes make it more active and vibrant. The sky is a combination of a pale grayed blue green, light orange, and a very light whitish green from the Art Spectrum “super soft” set that pulled it all together. While probably not visible in this image, I did leave some of the reds and oranges of the underpainting showing in small spots of color.

Underpainting for River Walk

Taming the Chroma

January 24, 2013 by admin

About six years ago I did a painting of this scene from Prime Hook Wildlife Refuge on the Delaware Bay. I was in a phase of painting with very bright colors and using very few neutrals. If you want to see the original, look at my website (www.jeanhirons.com), go to the MidAtlantic gallery and click to get to the second page. It is near the bottom. You might want to put your blinders on first! While scanning through old photos in preparation for an October 2013 show, I came upon the original photo that I used to paint the scene. I loved the composition and saw the possibility of doing a more subtle painting. I had a 16 x20 pastelbord that I had washed off and brushed with a red-toned gel and decided it would be perfect for this. This time I was careful to limit the really saturated colors, and began with dark browns and greens under the grasses. The background marshes are a mix of warm and cool reds with violets and green on top. There is still a lot of bright color but I am much happier with this version. (Keep in mind that digital photography heightens the reds and oranges, so the reproduction is probably a little brighter than the painting.)

When I started painting in pastel, I tried to use color rather than neutrals. Some people really liked the heightened sense of color, but I’ve found that I am not more drawn to nuanced color with a few bright spots. I guess this is the aging process! But I do think it makes for paintings that are easier to live with.

The Challenge of Foregrounds

January 22, 2013 by admin

Autumn on the Marsh, 20 x 20, UArt

This is another painting with a challenging foreground (see Working with Reds). I’ve always found the foreground to be one of the primary problems faced by the landscape painter. Given aerial perspective, the foreground is often the place with the strongest darks and most vibrant colors. But we want the viewer to look at the entire painting and not get trapped in the foreground. So how to make this work? I began this painting working slowly at the top, using direct applications of Ludwig and Great American pastels on UArt 400 grit paper without an underpainting. I really enjoyed doing it all until I got to the bottom, which I left for another day! My first solution was to get up at 4:30AM–a fearless time when I am totally focused! I decided to do an underpainting in the lower part that would make it easier for me to place the leaves and branches over it. I used the same Ludwig pastels (light applications) and alcohol. Then I took the bright red orange, orange, yellow orange, and yellow green pastels and worked very quickly to develop a pattern and not get too picky. I also added a very dark brown (a color I hardly ever use). I tried to used the upper branches to lead the eye into the upper right of the painting. I then used some of the duller warm Ludwigs that I’d used in the background to tone it down and fill in. Finally, I used some of the bright orange in small amounts in the distant trees to tie in the color. I think this works. The strong foreground color grabs the eye, then, I hope, leads us into the background waterway and distant fields. Compositionally, I consider this to be a big shape painting. It’s about the V-shape of water with land around it, with no one strong center of interest. I did add little groupings of ducks to provide more interest. But it’really about shape and flow and color.

Working with Reds

January 18, 2013 by admin

Blue Hill in Autumn, 20 x 20, UART

This is another somewhat experimental piece. Some months ago I purchased the Terry Ludwig vibrants set and have been looking for an opportunity to use them. In November, a friend took reference shots of the red blueberry barrons in Maine. I wanted to use both and had the idea of making up the composition. But I found this scene from the Blue Hill area of Maine that I had filmed in summer, when the foreground was all green. I have no idea whether blueberries would grow on this kind of rocky outcropping, but I like the composition and decided to use it. The main challenge was that all of the reds were at the bottom of the picture and I was afraid that the eye would get stuck there. I tried to alleviate this by adding patches of fainter red growth on the rocks, and using some dark reds in the area beneath the trees. To improve on the composition and flow, I carved out the lower right corner and added water and reflections. The trees and mid-rock areas are similary to what was in the photo; the foreground is my own invention! I used a variety of warm and cool reds and added some warm and cool greens to tie it to the background and break up the reds. I have been experimenting also with the use of square formats lately and find them to be a challenge. But I love the look of them. I think this composition suits the square nicely.

Painting Without a Net

January 13, 2013 by admin

January Pastorale, 17 x 17, Art Spectrum “Supertooth”

I’m calling this post ‘painting without a net” because I did this painting without any photo references. On Friday I drove to western Pennsylvania and back, a trip I take every two months to visit a friend in prison. The weather was lousy so I didn’t bring my camera. But I kept seeing things of interest, like dark cattle on a hill against the blue mountain, and a farm house interestingly placed at the foot of the hills. I saw all of these things in a split second. Yesterday, I decided to make up a composition that would capture some of what I saw and I had a really good time doing it. Aside from the house, the entire composition is really about abstraction: shapes, lines, and color. I did a basic drawing, but decided to keep myself free to add hills and shrubbery as I felt the composition needed them. I placed a large tree to the right of the house, then took it out and put in smaller, more wispy trees. I began with Giraults so as not to add thick layers of pastel that would be hard to remove. But I removed very little.

Like many of you, I’m sure, I’m used to working from photos, while also wanting to be a little less detailed, a little more abstract. Pure abstraction doesn’t offer enough satisfaction for me, but I DO love to just play with colors and shapes. Doing landscapes without the crutch of a photo allows me to have a certain amount of freedom while still creating a picture someone else can relate to. I very much enjoyed the articles in the most recent Pastel Journal (Feb. 2013) on three landscape painters and their interpretations, from fairly detailed to very, very suggestive. I want to be somewhere in between–I want my paintings to have the integrity of looking believable and being well constructed. In this painting, I got hung up on the dark bushes in the foreground. I like the shapes, the dark blues, and felt the composition needed them. But then I got worried about reality–would they look like they were in summer foliage amid patches of snow? So I tried to make them look like some kind of evergreen. Then decided to not worry about it a lot. People can make of them what they want!

Finding My Style

From the author of Finding Your Style in Pastel

Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Evolution of a Painting-Part 4

The Evolution of a Painting-Part 3

The Evolution of a Painting-Part 2

The Evolution of a Painting-Part 1

Color Studies

Using analogous and complementary color

Taming the Chroma

The Challenge of Foregrounds

Working with Reds

Painting Without a Net