Friday, December 5, 2008

"Desolation"


I did this study to practice how to paint trees. It is really difficult to paint darks on the top of lighter color background. I tried doing darks first then use lighter colors to cut off the branches, but I can't get fine twigs that way. I have to finish this painting in two sessions. I have to wait the lighter background dry enough so I can paint darks on top. Do you have a good way to do this kind of thing in one session? Please please let me know.

17 comments:

  1. Goeie genade, ... ow sorry

    good heavens this ones just awesome, it may be difficult but you have pulled it of very well!
    A great old sturdy oak in a cold cold winter landscape.

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  2. Ow a tip would be, to limit your palette, ....

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  3. Beautiful, looking at it makes me feel the winter chill. Love it.

    I'm not the painter you are but, try wipeing your brush after each stroke, use a very lite touch to float the new paint on top of the wet. I'll vary tools too using both palette knife and sable rounds and #1 & #2 filbert hog hair filbert.

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  4. No advice other than believing it can be done. ...............except that dividing a tree into foreground, middle a back,has been helping me.

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  5. Brrr...that's beautiful and makes me feel so lonely and chilly.

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  6. This painting is just wonderful!
    Can't help as I don't paint that often in oil.

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  7. Love this new direction you are taking. This is a problem I have been grappling with for years. I think Steve's advice is good. I have also been experimenting with scraping paint off the areas that I want to replace with dark, using one of those hard rubber tools they sell in craft shops.

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  8. I think the 2 things I admire most about this and all your paintings is your economy and color. Nothing is extraneous or slapped on. K.MacP once said that when the paint's too thick, put more paint on!

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  9. What a fantastic cold looking painting. Is it really that cold there? Superb!

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  10. If you figure out how to do it, please tell me!

    The painting is wonderful, btw, and makes me glad to be in Florida!

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  11. Don't do anything more. It's perfect the way it is.

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  12. Paint thinned with linseed oil will glide on by using a liner for thin lines on top of paint.

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  13. Oh I love the movement in this tree. It looks like it is cold.

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  14. Dean H has given you the answer. I use liquin instead of linseed oil. Get your paint good and juicy and lightly use a one or two rigger brush. I use this method to sign my paintings

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  15. James Gurney has a trick of making "sky panels" ahead of time by toning panels in light blue, so when it comes time for outdoor painting on clear days he has a dry sky surface to paint over. Maybe make a few "gray day" panels for winter?

    I adore these two outdoor studies, also... Especially on this one, it conveys a feeling of stillness with what looks like speedy brushwork. I know you're in Texas but I get a very welcome feeling of New England cold from this one. I miss home in wintertime.

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  16. One of my art teachers taught me to take a Q-tip (twist it in your fingers to get a fine tip) and remove the paint in the areas that you want the dark colors. It might take a few Q-tips. I use Q-tips every time I paint now.

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  17. Oh, and once you paint your darks after using the Q-tip, then you can paint your lights back up to the darks and soften your edges if you need to.

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