pigment

Winter light

March 15, 2014 by alaskanraven

Warmth and hope

January in Alaska. I stand on the warmer side of the glass. Cold dark trees give me an idea. Grab the pochade* box and mount it on a tripod in the dining room. Smell of oil rises from paint squeezed out.
Cup of tea.
Sketch ideas.
Wait.

Faint blue patch of sky at last above the horizon.
Go.

Large brush pushes paint around on canvas.
Outside, pinks and peach and lavender take over the blue sky patch.
Light. Warmth and hope rise again.
Tree shapes reach out to the light. I paint sky colors and then back to the stand of trees. Back and forth. Add the fallen tree with snow pile on it. Define shapes with more dark. Push paint until I don’t know what the next brushstroke should be.
Stuck.
Frustrated, I step back fifteen feet to look at it.

Pow.
Surprise. It works. The light jumps out. Trees stand strong. Loose, bold and free brushstrokes, patterns of light and dark, warm and cool tones tell the story.

I am not sure if the painting is about First Light or if it is more about the joy of painting. Putting one color next to another and delighting in the way the notes of color make a harmony.

The painting works for me, but does it work for you? Do you see something different in it?

I hope this makes you want to go to a window and feel the sun warm your cheeks. Treat yourself kindly, like you would treat a dear friend. Stop beating yourself up and be warmed by the light or by knowing the sun is shining on the other side of the cloud.

I hope these suggestions make a difference in your world today.

*Pochade—What is that?
A pochade box is a compact portable painting studio in a small box. It holds tubes of paint, brushes, palette and the lid will hold the canvas upright and secure so it can be painted. The bottom of the box often has an insert that will fasten onto a tripod turning it into an easel. Some pochade boxes also hold the finished wet canvas securely within to protect them and make carrying a wet painting out of the field easier. Painting in the field ‘en plein air’ means painting outside looking directly at the subject. Is it painting plein air when the artist stands on the warm side of the glass? There are different opinions on that question.

The making of a rainy day watercolor

September 14, 2012 by alaskanraven

Downpours of rain formed translucent curtains across the valley.
How could those shapes and colors be expressed in a painting?

Dark blue pigment with a touch of orange, then more blue flowed into the fibers of the paper. The wet fibers expanded but held onto the different pigments. Yellow ochre, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, cadmium orange. More water. Clear water softened the edges. Colors were moved back and forth as the brush searched for the right shape and texture. A dry brush picked up pigment and exposed the white paper. Puddles of paint slid into new areas, mixed, spread and made surprising effects. Some puddles were left untouched to change some more before they dried.

THIS IS THE MAGIC OF WATERCOLOR
Work quickly, go after a plan but be aware of what the paint does on it’s own. Evaluate the surprises. The quick change of direction or too long a hesitation will make or break the success of the painting. Paint changes as it dries on the paper but there is time to alter it while it’s still damp. An intentional brush can make an impact if carefully done.

Put a wash of deep pigment onto the paper that appears too dark so it will dry to the right value. This is a continual challenge. If it dries too light, a second wash of color will darken it but put on too many layers and the wash looks dead and uninteresting.

This time, the colors remained interesting when they dried. The colors worked well together and the tree shapes were formed by the pigments intertwining. I left them alone and gambled that they would look ok when they dried. This time they did.

TIME FOR A BREAK
This is one of the most important parts of the painting process. STOP and LET IT BE. Walk away. Do something else. Do this BEFORE you think it is done. BEFORE you have overworked the painting. I know this only because I have overworked MANY paintings. Soften the edges of the washes before you stop so you can come back later and and add to it.
The following painting was stopped. I took a picture of it and left the room.
When I returned I spent some time thinking about it and decided to add the foreground, darken the clouds and make some other small adjustments.

Is it better? You will have to be the judge of that. I like it better. The contrast of the foreground golden trees complements the cool tones of the valley. The darker clouds appear more ominous and capture more of the mood that I was trying to achieve.

You can see more of my paintings in this gallery.

Shipment arrives

“Sterling, look at that!” “Look at what, Felix?” “That huge box. From Canada.” “Looks like the artist received another shipment of Kroma paint. Watch, she’ll spend the rest of the day arranging it in her studio. All those tubes of paint go in some sort of order.” “Paint? What is that?” “Paint is color. She […]

Edges are important

“Sterling, What is the artist doing now?” “What do you mean, Felix?” “She spends lots of time brushing paint on the sides of her painting. The edges. You know what I mean?” “She makes changes on it when she changes the front of the painting. The sides appear to be important to her.” “But why?” […]

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