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Medium: Oil
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AN OIL DEMONSTRATION-PROJECT
by George Allen Durkee
Ghost Oak - Oil on Canvas, 24" x 30" (61cm x 76c,) - Copyright 2012 George Allen Durkee. All Rights Reserved.
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| The "ghost tree" in this demonstration emerges from the fog. There is a hush that subdues sound, color and light. Everything becomes quiet; subtle color merges with subtle color. The grays are not black and white, nor are they made pastel by simply adding white paint to color; instead, each color in the painting takes on some of the mother color.
The essence of this demonstration is to achieve color harmony by adding one particular color, called the mother color, in varying amounts to nearly all of the colors in the painting. In this painting, the mother color is the color of the dense fog. It will not be obvious in every brushstroke ofthe painting, but its subtle influence will be felt.
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When looking through fog or heavy atmosphere, colors become muted but are still discernable.
Become quiet within yourself to perceive the quieter color. To paint honestly, don't stand back, as though you are independent from the subject. Place yourself in the landscape; sharpen your senses to find the essential truth of the subject. In finding a balance between this truth and the process of painting, your emotions and your process will match the mood of the subject. Then you will paint from a place of connectedness.
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M A T E R I A L S _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pigments -- Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Yellow Ochre Light, Raw Sienna, Transparent Oxide Red, Terra Rosa,
Permanent Red Violet (or Alizarine Crimson), Ultramarine Blue Deep, Cobalt Blue Light, Viridian, Titanium White
Brushes -- A selection of small, medium and large brushes
Tools -- Painting knife, rag, mineral spirits or turpentine.
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1 Find Inspiration in Your Sketchbook
Now and then a particular drawing will suggest a powerful mood. Try developing it into a full-blown oil painting or even a series of them.
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2 Block in the Tree
On a toned canvas, make a line drawing of the tree with a no. 10 flat bristle brush on its edge. Now loosely block in the tree with transparent brushstrokes, thinning the paint with turpentine or mineral spirits. Allow some of the toned canvas to show through.
[1] Raw Sienna + Cobalt Blue Light
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3 Begin the Background
Lay in the area surrounding the tree generously with a painting knife, filing the interstices of the canvas with a thick layer of paint that will stay wet for an extended period of time. This will allow you to work wet-into-wet to achieve diffused edges hours (or days) from now. This background color--the mother color--represents the color of the air. For parts of the subject that are farther away, you will use greater amounts of this color in the mixtures, creating the illusion of looking through a heavy layer of atmosphere.
[1] mother color for this painting: white + Veridian+ Permanent Red Violet
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4 Begin Developing the Tree
Complete the rest of the background with the painting knife, smoothing peripheral areas a little with a no. 12 flat bristle. Looking for shapes of values in the large tree trunk, carefully build ragged layers of transparent and opaque pigment, one over another with a medium size bristle brush. Mix a small amount of the mother color into these tree colors because you are looking through a layer of atmosphere; add the most to the upper tree trunk because it is farther away. Look through obstructing limbs in the actual subject to find the underlying textures of the tree trunk. Later, you will paint smaller limbs over this. Paint edges softly.
[1] pure mother color
[2] add mother color
[3] add mother color to Raw Sienna + Cobalt Blue Light + Terra Rosa
[4] add mother color to Viridian +Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Yellow Deep
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5 Refine the Tree Trunk
Use smaller brushes to further refine the tree trunk. To help convey an atmospheric effect, soften the edges where the tree interfaces with the surrounding background. Work a little of the warmer trunk colors into the background with the knife and a large brush as a foundation for smaller branches that you will paint later.
[1] work in warm colors of the tree trunk
[2] darker variation of the mother color
[3] soften edges of the tree trunk
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MUSINGS | There are few absolutes. The rules of paint handling are simply what has been successful in the past--under different circumstances.
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6 Paint the Foreground
Lay dark transparent brushstrokes over the foreground area with a large bristle brush. Then, begin painting the rock shapes leading into the composition from the lower left corner. Use dark values and little or no mother color since this area is seen through a thinner layer of air. Now that the canvas is covered, you can easily gauge the values needed for smaller limbs.
[1] Ultramarine Blue Deep + Transparent Oxide Red
[2] Veridian + Cadmium Yellow Light + Transparent Oxide Red
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7 Begin Painting Smaller Limbs
With the no. 10 bristle brush, soften the background grays surrounding the tree to prepare it for overpainting with smaller limbs. In the finished painting, these warm and cool background smudges will be seen through the fog as groups of branches. Now, carefully reading the values of branches and twigs in the actual subject, paint more distant branches with the rigger, adding the mother color for thick atmosphere. Soften these fine lines a little with a small bristle brush and the sable filbert, and then build more branches over them.
[1] Terra Rosa
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MUSINGS | I have a decision to make. Do I want to force my will onto this canvas and try to make it conform to my initial vision? Or will I say, What does the painting want? and do that, allowing myself to be guided by what may be a higher knowing?
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8 Paint Softly
Make distant edges softer because you see them through more atmosphere. Softly paint the edges of the tree trunk. Progressively add layers of small twigs and branches with the most complex tangle of branches where you want to draw the most attention. Forego adding the mother color to branches in the area you want to be the most noticeable.
[1] build twigs and branches layer over soft layer
[2] Yellow Ochre Light + a touch of Cobalt Blue Light + white
[3] soft edge
[4] Terra Rosa
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9 Develop Distant Branches with Mother Color
Using a variation of the mother color that is just slightly darker than the background, paint peripheral limbs seen through the fog. Place the limbs into the still wet background with the small bristle brushes and the rigger. Although cylindrical in form, these branches tend to appear as silhouettes when seen through heavy atmosphere. So don't be overly concerned about defining light effects on them. Now, soften the more distant branches with the sable filbert.
[1] soften with a sable filbert
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10 Finish
Complete the Foreground
Paint the rocks simply in the lower left of the painting with a medium size bristle brush. Retain the dark values here to help serve as a lead-in for the composition. But don't overdevelop the rocks with texture and detail because they would then compete with the tree. Add more of the mother color as they recede into the painting.
Let's Review Working with the mother color is a reliable way to achieve color harmony in your paintings. When combined with exaggerated soft edges, strong moods with atmospheric effects are easy to accomplish. It is not always necessary to add the mother color to every single color in a painting; you can make the focal area speak louder by deviating from the predominant color key.
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GHOST OAK, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 30" (61cm x 76cm)
AN OIL DEMONSTRATION-PROJECT
by George Allen Durkee
This demo-project is from Durkee's book, Expressive Oil Painting:
an Open Air Approach to Creative Landscapes.
Read this book's full listing on Amazon
George Allen Durkee's Website
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Artwork and Text Copyright 2012 by George Allen Durkee, All Rights Reserved.
PLEASE RESPECT ALL COPYRIGHTS
George Allen Durkee's book, Expressive Oil Painting is published by North Light Books,an imprint of F + W Media, Inc. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
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