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See art in a fresh way. |
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Mini-Tutorial Finishing Off Plein Air Paintings |
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Once you are there with all your stuff,
painting out in the open on a beautiful day is one of the
most glorious experiences for a painter.
And, then, you have to get back. Once in your studio, if any of you are like me, the problems begin. The painting goes back on the easel, a little tweak here, and a little tweak there. Before you know it, you have plucked the painting to death! I want to share with you a very simple process that can help you finish off your plein air paintings. |
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This scene, on a beach near Cape
Canaveral, had an incredibly bright white reflecting on the
surface of the water. And the narrow land mass receded far off
in the distance on the left side.
The problem was that the painting didn't convey either the bright light or the depth as I remember it. |
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Using my favorite paper, Rives BFK, I
did a charcoal thumbnail sketch, about 2x3".
This is totally abstract, but it reminded me of the problem I wanted to solve. The land mass swings around and disappears in the distance, and there is a bright dot at the bend. In one way, there is nothing simpler than drawing "out loud". |
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Keeping to the same size, 2x3", I used the original painting as a model and copied it in charcoal, keeping in mind the bright light and the whip of land. Since the sketch is so small, it is rather effortless to make little spontaneous changes and to see how they look. To make my space thing work, I had to yank hard with my darks on the bushes, which swung them forward. This intensified the spatial difference between the foreground and the background.
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Using the charcoal thumbnail as a guide,
I went back into the painting with enthusiasm. This is the
finished work. The bushes and dirt road are dramatically darker.
Consequently, with minimal touches the sky got brighter, and
yet, I could still hammer the brilliant reflection.
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I really loved painting this high
desert valley in California. In the painting I loved the flow of
the valley, the mountains, and the sky. The foreground with the
light sand and the bushes lining the bottom weren't
magical--though not bad by any means. But, after living with it for some time, I thought I would make a thumbnail of it. |
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| With the thumbnail, I am trying to solved the light and space problems, but the most enjoyable part is the completely spontaneous feeling--it's like toying with an idea. Very liberating. |
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It became clear to me that the
brightest light would be over the mountains. As well, the brightness in the foreground was not working. It blocked the
flow of the receding valley.
In this thumbnail I could see that darkening the foreground would shift the focus to the beautiful swing of the valley. |
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In some ways these changes based on the
thumbnails are not dramatic, but they definitely strengthen the
work while saving all the good bits. Here is the finished painting. I did just what the thumbnail ordered: just dapped a highlight or two in the sky by the ridge of the mountain, and darkened the sand. With the sand, I wanted it to feel like it was under a cloud shadow. I also changed the silhouette of the bushes, darkening part of them. |
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| I just loved the upper half this painting of the Borrego Springs desert. But I felt the bottom half was a distraction. |
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| In this thumbnail I simplified the bottom half, knocked out the bushes and widened the path. |
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| For this, I also made a pastel thumbnail. Also about 2x3". |
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| Bingo, by simplifying the foreground, I am very happy with the "weave" of volumes of the desert floor, the sky, and foreground path. |
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This wild dark blue sky surfaced out of
nowhere on this Florida beach. I remember the depth of dark, and
spots of light.
The bushes here are totally pedestrian, and the sand looks like it was pasted on by a blind person. I couldn't throw away the piece because I loved the sky so much. Keeping that in mind, I went at it with my thumbs. |
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| I simply made the foreground darker and gave two highlights; one to the clouds and one on the water. |
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| A pastel thumbnail on black paper. |
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And here it is. I totally got rid of the
focus on the foreground. Consequently, the sky and water got all
the attention--and I am happy with the painting. A note of warning: Even though the thumbs are so simple, quick, and easy to do, I found that they took a lot of discipline. I think we, as artists, really enjoy playing on the real painting. But remember this process, especially after you kill a painting or two without it! Enjoy the process. Oh! One last comment: I am sure that by the personal way you resolve your thumbnails you will strengthen your unique style. I hope you enjoyed seeing thumbs in a new light. |
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Michael Newberry |
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