How Many Planes does your Painting Have? - Painting & Drawing Tip

Background, Mid-ground, Foreground

Do you struggle in the planning stage?
How Much? How Little? What Colour? What size? . . . .?

POPPIES FULL OF LIFE - WIP - 14 x 22, Vanished Watercolour on Wood Cradle

As a wildlife artist I find planning is a big part of my work.  Whether it is a bird or animal, it rarely sits/stands/looks exactly how I want, in the place I want.  I have to create an environment for my wildlife.  

This means building Backgrounds, Mid-grounds, Foregrounds . . .

Ok, you might say, there is a bit of reprieve.  When I look at my work, it seems I put my wildlife in the mid-ground.  I think that comes from my strong belief that my wildlife must be 'in' my environment.  Foreground placement strikes me as having it 'on top of' the setting.  And putting my birds and animals in the background seems to make them small and unimportant. So yes, the Mid-ground does plan itself.  

DEER ON THE BEACH - 11 x 14 matted unframed $225 - I like my Subject in the Mid-ground.  Log and sand in the Foreground and Sky and sand (suggested) in the Background.  

So, my modus operandi is:  Background - subject - Foreground

Now the question is What should they look like?  

Foreground 
This is an easy one.  I don't want to cover up my subject so there is usually a branch, leaf or rock suggested here.  Not a lot of things, just something to suggest Foreground: Placement 'inside' the setting.  

Background
This is the big one.  I have struggled with it over the years and tried various things.  From Abstract to Realistic to the Big White Space.  (See Post Have you De-Cluttered Your Painting for a discussion on no Background)

After working with "The Big White Space" I found my picture "Poppies Full of Life" an interesting contrast for my study on Backgrounds.  (Strangely enough, it isn't based on wildlife.  I love the poppies in my garden, what more can I say) In order to paint the picture I first needed to paint the background.  

Things I noted as I worked:

1.  My poppies were very complex so I needed a background that was both realistic and had depth but didn't detract from poppies.  

The black and white version gives a better view of the complexity of the Background.  There are many layers suggested but few specifics.  

2.  There needed to be a strong Powers of Suggestion - several layers - to give complexity.  I was trying for 3 or 4 layers.  I think I achieved it, in the middle and lower potion.  Closer to my focal point. 

All of the colours in the background are present in the other planes.  Not always the same value but certainly the same family.  

3.  It was important to include all the colours in the Mid & Foreground in every plane, in order to tie everything together. An isolate colour will look out of place and draw unwanted attention. 

4.  Seeing the background filled in with my subject area open, gives me a good check on my composition.  I felt that I had arranged my poppies in a pleasing, interesting way.  

5.  Planning the values for each plane needed a lot of thought.  Where the focus point was, the lowest bloom, I needed the darker values in the background for a strong contrast.  The other blooms needed to be interesting and not compete with the focal point.  So their background value needed to be lighter to allow for less contract between the planes.  

Once I was satisfied that my background was basically set I moved on to the flowers.  I will leave that to my next post.  I did a lot of mixing wet into wet that made a very lush look for my poppies.  I was very excited about it and thought you would want a more lengthy explanation as to how that worked. I feel that I really nailed it.  I hope you do too. 

Painting Backgrounds is a subject that has interested me a lot.  I have talked about it many times.  Here are a few posts on the subject, you might find interesting.  If you put 'painting backgrounds' into my search box on my blog you will get even more articles.  (Yes,  I have struggled with it and talked about it a lot.)

Backgrounds that Paint Themselves 
What's Going on Back There
Painting Those Pesky Backgrounds

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