"Perigord Morning"
oil on linen panel, 8" x 10"
Isn’t it interesting how we hear something over and over and over, then one day the true meaning comes crashing in with a shock?
That happened in today’s painting session. Kevin MacPherson, modern impressionistic painter extraordinaire, writes about, preaches about and demonstrates how a painter must keep their color efforts confined to two families; light and shadow.
Well, here it is, Light and shadow. His point is simply this . . . . .that the values for the shadow family should never cross over into the light family . . .and conversely. I discover today that variations within the light and within the shadow families should be temperature changes . . .eg, color changes . . . warms to cools, etc . . .rather than value changes to show volume.
Today I forced my hand to fully paint the shadow family of values into the painting first. This sets the composition for early on and sets the stage for the light pattern. Working with roughly three different values within that group, it sets the mood immediately and opens the shadows to having more luminous color. Nice! And does it ever work!! I can smell the air in this painting!
And, yes, I caught myself saying out loud, “Oooohh! That’s what he meant!!
That happened in today’s painting session. Kevin MacPherson, modern impressionistic painter extraordinaire, writes about, preaches about and demonstrates how a painter must keep their color efforts confined to two families; light and shadow.
Well, here it is, Light and shadow. His point is simply this . . . . .that the values for the shadow family should never cross over into the light family . . .and conversely. I discover today that variations within the light and within the shadow families should be temperature changes . . .eg, color changes . . . warms to cools, etc . . .rather than value changes to show volume.
Today I forced my hand to fully paint the shadow family of values into the painting first. This sets the composition for early on and sets the stage for the light pattern. Working with roughly three different values within that group, it sets the mood immediately and opens the shadows to having more luminous color. Nice! And does it ever work!! I can smell the air in this painting!
And, yes, I caught myself saying out loud, “Oooohh! That’s what he meant!!
8 comments:
This painting has a nice feel to it Mike. Good light and nice clean color.
Thanks, Frank! I like this one in person a lot . . . . .there is a definete atmospheric feel about it!
Am finding Christmas preps and parties and such to be getting in the way of painting! I suppose I could call this a compulsion more than anything else, but what the heck, eh? I sure miss it when I am deprived of it. Is the next step curmudgeon-ness? ;-)
Mike, Great painting! your hard work is paying off! Fun to see the quality of your paintings improve as you explore and push yourself to the next level.
Mike: Your painting looks so good that I'm now compelled to pull MacPhearson's latest book off my studio shelf tonight and re-read about said subject!
I like the limited palette - creates a unique mood. I can smell the grass.
VERY nice, Mike.
Faye
Hello Mike
Would you consider doing a painting to display on your blog working from shadow to light in steps as you did for your 'Work in progress' from Dec 5, 2007?
It's very nice to hear your thoughts about your paintings, your progress, your failures, your experiments, theories, and ideas. It's inspiring.
I like your way of paintings. The light. shadows, and brush stroks.
Bravo !
Post a Comment