Double check and Ruby Violet Light

A couple things today:

Double checking my painting

Discovery of Ruby Violet Light

Last night when I left the studio I was thinking "Studio Garden" was almost done. I liked it. This morning I took a photo of it and with Photoshop Elements, placed it next to the reference photo. Oh, oh. Not done. I used the pencil tool with red to mark areas to fix.

1. Shape of tree left side (add sky)

2. Bring the dip of the sky above greenhouse up higher so it doesn't point so obviously to greenhouse.

3. With a rigger brush, straighten some areas on top of the fence.

4. Important area in fence (square) needs grass.

5. Extend the flowering chives up on left to lead the eye to the center of interest (Rhodie)

6. Darken and finish painting upper right

7. Darker values in brick walkway

Comparing the art to the reference is fun. Every once in a while I think about offering this service to other artists. Sort of a Critique/Mentor/Advice role. Contact me if that interests you. 

Vasari oil paint is wonderful! I have about a dozen tubes still in their felt-lined shipping boxes. Today while mixing color for the flowering chives, I wondered if I had a tube of anything to help me. Voila! Vasari Ruby Violet Light. Great color used alone and so useful to tone down other colors. Not too warm, not too cool. Love it!

Painting the Studio Garden, Post 1

These days, while self-isolating, I've been spending mornings in the studio and afternoons in the gardens (flower and vegetable).

I've been painting small since last November so it feels good to bust out and paint 24x24. That's the short story.

Here is the maybe more than you want to know backstory.
Exactly two years ago I was painting flowers. See the very light Percy Wiseman rhododendron out the window? I was painting that. On this 24x24 inch wood panel. It was going well - until it wasn't. At some point I made the decision to ask Jay to sand the whole thing off. I think it was something about starting with a smaller vase (you can see it in the sanded photo) then reworking that, then something about the background temperature.

Looking back at it now, I think I was hasty. But I am happy to turn the panel into this studio garden painting.

Studio Garden, day 1 The Block-In

Studio Garden, day 2 Double Check Composition

Studio Garden, day 3 Working the Middle Ground

Need an Ellipse Check?

So....I'm working on a painting with three Glassybabys. (I Googled "What is the plural of Glassybaby?" and got nothing. You know what I mean - there are three of them in my painting).

I'm basically done with the pink one (BFF) and the blue one (peace) and am about to start on the one in the foreground (lavender). I needed an ellipse check for lavender so I took a photo of my painting, cropped it to a detail shot and selected the ellipse tool in Photoshop Elements.

I put the ellipse tool on peace and copy/pasted it. I moved the pasted copy to lavender and because lavender is closer to the viewer, I dragged the ellipse tool to be wider and deeper. Looks good to me, now to paint it. Ellipses are critical. You can lose the edges, even a lot of them, but the underlying foundation has to be correct or... OR IT'S NOT. Always double check your ellipses.

Paint Along May 2020 - Oil, start to finish.

If you follow this blog, you have seen previous posts about this Paint-Along I began using a friend's reference photo of the blossoming tree in her back yard. 

She usually works in acrylic but wanted to learn more about oil paint so we began the painting with an acrylic foundation while waiting for her shipment of oils to arrive. If you search labels for "Paint Along with Me May 2020" all posts should show up to show how we started as well as the reference photo I used.

When the oil paints she ordered arrived we moved on to painting with oil on top of the acrylic foundation. Note: I use a medium called Archival Odorless Lean with my oil paint. As I mix a color, I dip the tip of my brush in a little medium and mix it in. It makes the paint dry faster and I like the change in viscosity of the mix. 

Here are the steps of the oil painting with the completed painting at the bottom.

On the acrylic foundation, paint the sky and the grass. 
Grass is cool light in the background
and more yellow (warmer) in the foreground.

Block in the darkest red for the pink and white blossoms on the tree. 

Add the lighter pinks and white.
The dark red foundation makes the lighter colors pop.

"Cloud Tree," oil, 12x9 inches ©2020 Barbara Benedetti Newton
Reference photo courtesy of Barbara Cloud

Paint Along May 2020 - Color Swatches

This is the reference photo (courtesy of Barbara Cloud) and the colors we will be mixing in oil. We will be working in oil paint over our acrylic block-in of this scene.

This is what the acrylic foundation should look like.

The next post will be about how to mix the colors as shown in the swatches above. Note the color of the sky...a very light lavender. Also note that I have included a swatch of pure black. Next to it is the darkest value I lifted from the reference photo. It is a very warm dark color. We won't be using black straight out of the tube but may enrich it with a warm (Alizarine Crimson) or cool (Ultramarine Blue or Viridian Green).

Paint Along May - Perspective

Just a word about perspective. Always check your vanishing point in your preliminary sketch. In drawing, a vanishing point is the point at which lines converge or meet at the horizon. It is a fundamental concept of composition.

Paint Along May 2020 Step 1

 Step 1 Supplies and Line Drawing

This paint-along will be done in oil but for the line drawing and underpainting I will use acrylic.

Canvas panel holder: Years ago I made various size holders...this one is for my 12x9 canvas panel. I glued 3 pieces of 3/16 thick foam core onto a larger piece of black 1/4" gator board. I slip the canvas panel down into the slot. Works great.

Reference photos: In color, printed on glossy photo paper, and in grayscale, printed on plain paper.

Masterson Sta-Wet palette: The sponge keeps acrylics wet. Close it up for overnight. Here's a link to it on Amazon but it is less expensive from Dick Blick, Jerrysartarama or Cheap Joes.

Acrylic paint: I have a variety of paint. All brands from student to professional. These just looked good for the photo. Cad Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Red, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Titanium White and Burnt Sienna.

I mixed Ultramarine Blue and Cad Yellow to make green. Using a #6 flat acrylic brush, I interpreted the scene using the reference photo as my guide. 

The red lines: 

1. Make sure your vertical or horizontal lines are correct. The front of the planter box around the tree is straight with the edge of the canvas. 

2. The tree in the left background relates to the edge of the planter box. 

3. In this view of the scene, the  base of the green tree at right is even with the back of the planter box. 

4. In the reference photo, the horizon line appears to run downhill from left to right. More interesting than a straight horizon.

5. When you paint the tree, try to follow a branch all the way from trunk to sky. Be gestural, use big movements of your arm for rhythm. We don't want a stiff, tight tree. Note, some indications I made are with a pretty dry brush and not much paint. 

A New Paint-Along 5-2-2020 Tip

5-2-2020 Tip of the day:

1. When I have completed my basic block-in of the subject, I take a photo of my painting on the easel with my reference photo placed beside it.

2. In Photoshop, I use the clone tool to pick up an area from the reference photo (left image) and place it on the painting image (right side).

In this case I was checking the color green and the value of the table top. As you can see, the green is pretty good but the table top needs to be darker.

Note: I always include a Color Bar as a reference for correct color and value. If the color bar in my photo doesn't look like the color bar in my hand, I adjust color and value in my computer until it matches.

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