Bringing Light into Your Painting - Painting & Drawing Tips

Grab the Light and Make it Shine!!

I think that is what every artist wants at some point in their work.

Late Walk on the Trail - watercolour Matted 11 x 14 $225

  I just finished teaching a series of 4 classes focusing on Shadows and Depth.  I found I became a little abscessed with the topic.  I began to analyze every painting and photograph I saw.  It was interesting to see the different techniques artists used. Reflective light and Ambient Light were the most interesting.  My class will attest,  I really pushed the limits with Ambient Light.  (See last post "Make Magic with Ambient Light")  

Getting a feel for the painting and setting up the darks in the midground. 

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Last Chance to Join the Class: 
In-Person Online Drawing Classes
 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursdays, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost:  Early Bird $75 After Feb 4 $90 Contact Wendy to Register

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To create depth in your work means shadows and light will play a big part.  For the final project we worked on a reference photo I took last fall when visiting Campbell River.  My sister and I were walking along the trail that winds along the side of the Campbell River. There are several little side streams that have branched out from the river and run parallel to it.  This little scene was from one of those streams.  

In the fall the salmon run along this area and there is lots of activity. Salmon, bears, eagles, and people are everywhere.  Now things are quiet.  The dead salmon are gone, and life is back to normal.  These two seagulls were resting quietly, probably remembering the heady days when salmon were laying everywhere.  

It was late, I caught the sun peaking through the trees on this magically little place.  I loved it.

It was tricky.  

My first thought was, get some colours in the background but keep them light.  The background was the lightest part of the picture.  

Balancing the colour on both sides and adding more detail to the mid ground

Next, get some darks happening.  

In order for light to shine it needs some darks to set it off.  In my picture, the darks were in the midground.  They were the trees and branches.  There was also a few shapes on the ground that were silhouetted by the light. 

Setting up the Water and Seagulls

I didn't want to lose the light so I focused next on the two sides.  They were both the same but different.  The right side was in full shade.  There was a little reflected light allowing for some colour but dark tones.  

The left side was quite different. Here it was shaded but with lots more reflective light. The greens ran to more of a blue-green.  And the values a bit lighter then on the right side. 

Once I had the sides settled I could see it was time to do the water.  The colours needed to be mid-values to light to keep the attention to the front of the painting and offer a balance to the light of the branches in the sunlight. I tried to include the colours in the midground to keep unity in the painting. 

 

Really pulling in all together now - checking patterns, shapes and values

Now it was time to pull it together.  I focuses on the shapes and patterns I could see.  There was no way I could put details in the light.  The perspective did not allow for that.  I used light and dark cold yellows but also used my Cobalt Teal Blue mixed with the yellow to give me some great cool greens.  Also,  I made sure I dropped a bit on the midground and on the water.  Changing the value and hue slightly to reflect its location in the picture. 

It was time for the branches.  I left them til last.  It is almost painting with negative space to put them in.  Once I dropped them onto the leaves I went back and grounded them with some darks. Then it was time to add a few highlights on the water and seagulls, even a bit of foliage in the mid-ground.  

Finally I stepped away.  "Late Walk on the Trail" was done.  

Last Chance to Join the Class: 

Join the Conversation in my February set of Online Classes - We will take a Deep Dive into how Depth in your Paintings is created at every step of the process - From Composition to Completion. 

 Looking Forward to Seeing you there  ↓↓↓↓↓↓

In-Person Online Drawing Classes
 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursdays, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost: Early Bird $75 After Feb 4 $90 Contact Wendy to Register

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Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy