Peaceful Reflections

Two Seasons - One Image

01/14/06 Update:

It was a fall day. And some of the leaves were still on the trees! So, Rita
and I decided to take a drive through the countryside looking for pretty
fall scenes. Sometimes, we'll stop so she can draw. And while she's doing
that, I'll take some pics. Other times, we just stop the car (Do you remember
the stop, back-up and drive slowly routine we described in Days Gone By?)
and take some pics. Well, this was the latter situation. I'm driving and
don't see anything all that pretty. Rita says 'Stop the car, I want a picture!'
It's a gravel road and I spray a few attempting to slow down quickly (because
I didn't want to back up). We both jump out of the car and walk over to the
fence on the opposite side of the road. Now, I'm thinking that this is really
an uninteresting scene. However, at Rita's urging, I take a few shots. Note
the plastic fluttering in the wind on the fence!

Again, I was very unimpressed! We walked back to the road and I took a close-up
of the house:

I remember thinking about how I was wasting perfectly good film! But how wrong
I was. Rita has actively used these photo's as reference material. Note the
flecks of watercolor on the pics! She was definitely having some fun painting
that day!!

01/21/06 Update:

Here's the initial drawing Rita did on a 5X7 sketch pad. I should probably
comment on the time difference between the initial sketches and the actual
painting. Sometimes, it can be years between the original sketch and the
actual painting. And sometimes those initial sketches can have a lot of detail
when Rita's initial goal is to practice drawing. Other times, the sketch is
simply her way of determining how she wants to lay out the compositional
elements. For this piece, the sketch was done fairly recently and lacks a lot
of the detail she would have inserted if she was practicing her drawing skills.
But it did help her to layout the composition. If you compare this with the
reference photos, you should see a fairly representative drawing of the scene.
But there's no plastic fluttering on the fence! Ah, the freedom an artist has
over a photographer!!

The first pic is actually the sketch on the watercolor paper. Most of the lines
are faint, except for the focal point, i.e. the house and surrounding buildings.
But it gives you a fairly good idea of how Rita planned the piece.

If you've done much reading in magazine articles or books on composition, you've
have probably read about the rule of thirds. On the second pic, I have inserted
a grid that divides the piece into thirds. Where the horizontal and vertical lines
intersect are the sweet spots for the focal point, i.e. where you want the viewer's
eye to end up. As with every rule, art and creativity can dictate that you do
something different. But the rule of thirds is fairly accepted simply because it
works. Next time you go to an art show or art gallery, evaluate the pieces to
see if they used this rule or not. It makes for a good exercise to help you
evaluate the compositions and see what you like and why or why not.

For this piece, the house and barns are a little below the sweet spot. Why is that?
A couple of things to keep in mind. First, the mat(s) have not been applied. My
guess is that when we go to frame this piece, we'll end up cropping part of the
piece and more than likely, the focal point will end up very close to the sweet spot.
Second, while the trees have not been painted around the house, they will also
become a part of the focal point. And third, there's another rule. The rule of two-
fifths. Instead of dividing the paper into thirds, you divide it into fifths. And
where the 2nd fifth lines intersect, you also have a sweet spot. The idea is this.
Avoid placing your focal point at or around the center line of the image.

If you have a piece that you're currently working on, take several pieces of blank
paper and create a mat around the piece. Then shift the mat around to move the focal
point from dead center to one of the sweet spots (thirds or two-fifths) and see which
adds more interest to the composition. Again, there are execptions. But generally,
the rules will provide you a good starting point on how to lay-out the composiiton.

1/28/06 Update:

To protect the buildings, Rita applied a mask to the buildings. The yellowish white
is the mask and will later be rubbed off. Then you will see the white paper return.

Now, here's where it starts to get fun! As Rita was evaluating the reference photos,
she got the idea to paint the same scene in a fall setting and a winter setting. So,
she stretched two sheets of paper, sketched the same scene on both and then added the
mask to both sheets. And since the images were identical up to this point, we did not
want to bore you with both. But from this point forward, we're going to step you
through the process for both pieces. And since you paint them differently, the pieces
will progress differently. So, one week one piece may appear to be ahead of the other
and so forth. Hopefully, this makes sense. If not, it will become clear as we move
through the process.

Having said all that, we're going to look at the sky and how they are similar and also
very different for the two seasons.

Fall Sky

Winter Sky

In terms of technique, we've described how Rita paints her sky's in previous how-to
articles. For example, read Anticipation for those details.

For the Fall sky, Rita used Cobalt blue. And for the Winter sky, she used French Ultra-
Marine mixed with Payne's Gray. And you can see that the Fall sky is brighter and
cheerier, typical of a warm fall day. And that the Winter sky, while cloudless (or is
it?) is much more subdued and cooler in look and feel. In subsequent updates, we're
going to be exploring the warm/cool theme in greater detail. So be sure to come back
for that discussion!

For the Fall sky, Rita has left clouds (white paper) that move diagonally across the page
above the house and buildings to help frame them in and create movement down to the trees
on the left side. This will become more important later in the process. But notice that
Rita let the blue merge down into the trees. I asked her why, and she said it was not
that important to stop it, since the fall colors in the trees will easily cover it up.

However, if you look at the Winter sky, Rita definitely stopped the blue from getting into
the trees. She did this with a paper towel, dabbing the paint as it attempted to bleed
into the trees. Given that it's a winter scene, she wanted to create some pop to the
piece with a high contrast between the sky and the trees.

2/4/06 Update:

Fall

Winter

For the Fall piece, Rita's palette includes the following paints:

- Cobalt blue
- Brown Madder
- Burnt Umber
- Windsor Yellow
- Raw Seinna

And for the winter piece, her palette includes:

- French Ultramarine
- Paynes Grey
- Quinacridone Coral
- Quinacridone Gold
- Burnt umber

These were her primary colors. However, it's possible that smaller amounts of other
paints were also used.

If you're familiar with these pigments, you will notice that the fall piece is using
a warm set of paints while the winter piece is using a cool set of paints. At a high
level, when you view any piece of art, it will be considered cool if it has a blue
cast. While a warm piece will have a yellow cast. If you've ever played with a
photo editor and added blue to the image, it does cool the image down, i.e. makes it
look colder. And by adding yellow, it makes the same image warm up. Well, the same
principle works for watercolor painting! How cool, errr warm, is that!!

But with each primary color, there is a warm side to the color and a cool side. For
example, a warm red would lean to orange (red and yellow) and a cool red would move
into the purple (red and blue) range. Given that these images are not that big, it
may be hard for you to see the differences. In the fall piece, the red trees behind
the house have an orange cast. And in the winter piece, while they're a little small
to see clearly, there are a couple of reddish purple trees. In the fall piece, you can
see that the greens have some yellow color or cast in them. Hopefully, this gives you
some insight into the differences between the warm/cool effects achieved for each
piece.

Now, my guess is that you're wondering why Rita has a lot of yellow (which is warm)
in the winter piece? Good question! Actually, that's a great question!! And I'm
rambling on, so that I have time to figure out the answer!! Rita!! Ha! Seriously,
there is another principle at work. In the fall piece, Rita is playing the reds and
greens against each other. Likewise, in the winter piece, she is playing the blues
and yellows against each other. This helps to make the respective colors pop in each
image. Did Rita do anything to the yellow to help cool it down? Yes, she did. And
this little trick may be just the ticket for you! She added Payne's Grey to the yellow
and that helped to cool this very warm color down! Now that is way too cool!!

Up to this point in our discussion, we've been looking at the pieces and what is
different about them. Now, I'd like to review with you what is similar. Technique
in how they were painted is very similar. With the exception of the evergreens, the
trees are painted wet so that you get the soft edges. And in both situations, the
most distant trees have more blue in them to account for the atmospheric effect.

2/18/06 Update:

Fall

Winter

This week, Rita has added the group of trees to the left hand side of both pieces.
And in both pieces, she has started to paint in the ground cover. And obviously,
she has more of the Fall piece completed than the winter piece. She'll catch that
up in a later update. And in the Winter piece, she's already added the evergreen
tree to the right of the woods (group of trees).

Actually, the technique for painting the woods is the same for both pieces. Only the
colors were changed to relfect the warm/cool theme we've already discussed. Both,
were painted in three steps. First, Rita got the paper wet and then applied the
respective colors. This gave the soft edges that she was after. Second, she painted
the first layer of trees, the lighter ones further into the woods. Third, she painted
the darker trees at the edge of the woods. And both sets of trees were painted on
drier paper to give her the harder edges.

I asked Rita why she added the woods to the left side of the piece(s)? She quipped
right back, "It was in the photo!" (Yeah, the photo's I thought would never be
used!) Trying to get her a little more serious, I reasked the question, "Is there
a compositional reason for adding the woods to the left side?" Now that got her
thinking! Two seconds later :), she said it would help keep the viewer's eye from
going off the page. That when the road was painted in, she wanted their eye to
move from the road to the focal point (house and barns). Without the woods, the
viewer's eye would tend to follow the road off the paper.

Fortunately, good composition is a skill that can be developed! This week when you
pick up an art or photo magazine, practice evaluating the different images from a
compositional perspective. Mentally track where your eye goes throughout the piece.
Identify what helps/hinders the movement of your eye. Then if you really want to
get bold, try it with your own work! Remember, practice, practice, practice!

2/25/06 Update:

Fall

Winter

Yellow to gold is this week's theme! Rita is attempting to finish out the yellow
ground cover in the Fall piece and the gold in the winter piece. Since the snow
is the white of the paper, it definitely speeds up the effort to piant the snow!
So this week and next, it will look like we're spending a little more time on
the fall piece. And looks are not deceiving in this situation, because it did
take more time!!

The techniques used for the two pieces are entirely different! For the fall piece
note how the fields (ground cover) have a softer look to them than the winter
piece? If you've read our previous how-to's, then you'll know that one was
painted wet and one dry. Even if you have not read them, you can probably
guess that the fall piece was painted wet and winter was painted dry.

For the fall piece, Rita got her paper damp and then used her trusty toothbrush
to flick the paint on the paper. Since the paper was damp, the paint bled and
created the soft edges. (One word of caustion about the toothbrush: Flicking
the paint provides very little control where it goes. Remember the reference
photos above or the lampshade from a previous how-to! So be sure to protect
everything in the proximity.) Given that she was done with the yellows, Rita
went ahead and painted in the tree in front of the woods on the left and the
tree and bushes that will ultimately be in the fence row.

For the winter piece, she left the paper dry and used a fan brush to paint in
the golds of the fields (ground cover). The dry paper gives it the hard edges.
Unlike the fall piece, Rita did not paint in any additional trees or bushes until
she was finished with the snow.

3/11/06 Update:

Fall

Winter

Base coats, base coats, base coats. Today, we going to be discussing ???
You guessed it, base coats! For the fall piece, Rita is painting in the
green base coat. Actually, if you compare these images to the last update,
she had started to paint in the green on the hill in front of the farm house.
For the winter scene, she has painted in the shadows on the snow which will
become the base coat for the remaining features.

Since Rita has not found a green pigment that she likes (they are too flat),
she will custom mix her greens. And in this case, she used several of her
yellows with Cobalt Blue and maybe a little Payne's Gray and Brown Madder
thrown in. She will mix enough on her palette to finish the piece, and
when that piece is done, the palette is cleaned and that custom color no
longer exists. She will also use other colors during the flecking process
to add a variety of color to the textures.

Her technique in painting the fall piece is fairly simple. Where she wants
a little texture in the base color, she left the paper drier. Otherwise, the
paper is damp and she lets the pigments and paper interact. As you compare
the two images, you can see how there are light and dark areas of green. that
is simply the variations in how moist the paper is, i.e. lighter is more
moist. Rita primarily used a fan brush. And then followed-up with a
toothbrush where she wanted a little more detail.

In the first fall image, you can see that Rita began building up some detail
around the little gully on either side of the road. In the second image, you
can see that she continued building that up. First, she left the paper drier
when applying the fan brush. In the second image, she use a toothbrush to get
more of the detail there and along side the road in the foreground. In order
to control the toothbrush flecking, she will cover up the areas she doesn't
want flecked (a new term?) with pieces of paper. Also, in the second image,
the large area of green in the foreground was painted with the fan brush on
damp paper. Once that had dried, Rita will be ..... Now wait a minute! We'll
be covering that in our next update! (Be sure to come back!)

In the winter piece, Rita mixed French Ultramarine with Payne's Gray. Using
various sizes of wet round brushes (medium mostly), she applied the shadows
in the snow on dry paper, sometimes damp for softer edges. The moisture in
the brush controlled where the paint would go. So shadows in the road for
the tire trackes, shadows in the gully, and shadows in the proximity of the
tree yet to be painted in front of the woods. Also, note how the snow shadows
help tie into the sky for the overall composition of the image.

3/18/06 Update:

Fall

Winter

This week we'll be in the weeds, quite literally! Or to put it another way
we'll be in the details. The details can often require many hours of very
meticulous work. But Rita enjoys watching the vision gradually become reality
through those details!

In the Fall piece, Rita used literally every color in her palette for this piece
to paint the foreground weeds in the lower left corner to the low center of the
piece. And she applied the weeds with a variety of strokes/flecking.

Compositionally, she was concentrating on adding interest without distraction.
First, she did not want to distract the viewer with the weeds. That is why
the weeds do not interact with the road at all. She wanted the road to lead
the viewer's eye into the piece. Second, she added interest with a variety of
shapes and colors in the weeds themselves. The idea was to make them look semi-
realistic and to create eye movement up to the trees on the left side, then over
the sky and down to the focal point. That is, either way (the road or the weeds)
the viewer's eye moves through the piece and will end up on the focal point.

In the Winter piece, Rita's also paintd in the weeds and some other details.
She's painted in the fence and the brush along the field (right center). And
she painted the weeds in the gully and added the tree in front of the woods (left
center). Her technique is one we've described in previous how-to's so I'm not
going to spend any time on that. And the colors are a continuation of the yellow
browns that she has been using already.

Compositionally, she was concentrating on adding interest without distraction.
She was looking for a variety of shapes in the weeds. That's why no two clumps
look the same! But she was still after the eye movement, i.e. coming in from the
road on the right, to the trees and then to the focal point or coming in on the
left with the small clump of weeds in the snow to the trees, to the sky and then
to the focal point.

Now, with both pieces, you should be able to practice tracking your eye movement.
Forget everything we've discussed, close your eyes and count to five. Ok, now
look at the Fall piece. Where does your eye go? Just mentally keep track of it.
Now try it with one of your own pieces. If you have a good composition, your eye
will move through-out the entire image. If it doesn't, then critique it. What
needs to occur to make it do that? And that's the really hard question!

3/25/06 Update:

Fall Textures

Winter's Covering

If you compare Fall Textures with last week's image, the following have been
added:

- Observe the bottom of the road in the foreground. Do you see how Rita created
the illusion of weeds by extending the background color into the road?
- The foreground tree on the right side, just in front of the fence was painted.
- Rita also added a pine tree to the woods on the left side.
- And of course, she finished the focal point, i.e. the house and barns. Notice
the bushes on the right side of the house. Why did she do that?
- And finally, she signed it! You can see her signature in the lower right hand
corner.

In Winter's Covering you will also see some changes from last week's image;

- The same foreground tree on the right side, just in front of the fence was
finished.
- She finished painting the focal point, i.e. the house and barns. Where did the
bushes on the right side of the house go?
- Rita added a little snow to the trees on the left side of the piece!
- And finally, she signed it! Actually, in the same spot on both pieces!

In both pieces, you will also observe a shift in colors, i.e. this week's images
are a little brighter and well, more colorful. That's because they have been
color corrected for printing. And this is as close to the actual image that we can
achieve on the web. Now the monitor that we use on our computer is calibrated
so that the image that we see on the screen is very close to the image we see
when we print it out. When I view Rita's web site from a non-calibrated monitor
I'm always disappointed in how dark or drab the images look. So take heart, when
you see the actual pieces, they are so much more rich and colorful than what you
are seeing on your monitor!!

In Fall Textures, was there a compositional reason why Rita added the pine tree
to the woods? And of course, the answer is 'yes'! Why would I ask the question
if I wasn't going to discuss it in more detail!! But from time to time, I like to
banter about and tease you a bit. Hopefully this brought a smile to your face!
Ok, back to the compositional reasons: the principal is this, an odd number of
shapes adds more interest than an even number. For example, three buildings adds
more interest to the piece than just two buildings. Or said another way, when Rita
was evaluating her almost completed piece, she had two pine trees around her focal
point. By adding a third pine tree, it added more interest, right?

Ok, one more question needs to be answered! Why are there bushes in front of the
house in Fall Textures and not in Winter's Covering? Because leaves fall in Fall!!
:) And Rita didn't have a brush small enough to paint in the branches or she would
have tried! :) Ouch! (I just got pinched!!) :) Seriously, she made a decision to not
paint the branches in the Winter's Covering piece to make the house look more stark,
more winter-like! Of course I'm not biased, but I think it worked very well!!

And with that, we're done with this how-to! Hope you enjoyed it half as much as we
did putting it together!!

Two seasons - one image!!