Late Day Light, Coulon 16 x 16 UART 400

Underpainting

Reference photo

I spent a lovely, quiet afternoon at the studio, doing my second painting from our recent trip.  This farm house was up the road a bit from the similar type of farm house that we stayed in.  I took pictures of many of them, but this one really intrigued me because of the side buildings and bushes on the right side of the picture. Much more interesting than just the house.  And the water reflections, of course, also gave it more interest.  I did the underpainting yesterday and chose a really warm yellow green for the sky and a warm green for the water. I used blues and off reds for the bushes and buildings.  I’m finding more and more that I’m just looking for a color with the right value and not worrying very much about what it is!  But I did think about temperature when choosing the sky and water colors.

I wanted this painting to show the glow of the beautiful late afternoon light. I used light blues and greenish blues in the sky, then added a Ludwig light orange above the house on the left side of the painting.  For the trees, I kept to blues and blue greens (no violets!).  The house is a combination of grayed green Giraults and a beige Schmincke.  I wanted to emphasize the light and shadow on the house and went back over it and the windows a number of times. I finally added a warm Schmincke to the second window from left on the top and added blue over some of the others to keep them from being too much alike.  I left out a lot of fence posts, a sign, and a telephone pole. But I did add the speed sign and really like the way it came out, and the fact that it breaks up the large dark bush against the house.

For the water, I went with darker colors and more intense blues at the base.

What I love about France (and Europe in general) is the age of everything and the way the buildings have become a part of the landscape. This house, with its odd side buildings, and it’s typical grayed facade, is a good example.  There is a real soft, earthiness in France, with few hard edges and lovely colors.  It was such a pleasure being there and reliving it!

It was very quiet at my studio today, but just as I finished a man asked to come in and visit. He looked at all the work and fell in love with several of them and I have a feeling he will be back. You never know!