jeudi 10 novembre 2011

Simple but not easy.


Simple but not easy. This is what I would say about painting volumes.
The principle I use in such ornamental paintings is simple :
_ a mid-tone ( the soft grey I basecoated my canvas with)
_ one value ( darker than the mid-tone) for the shadows
_ another one ( even darker) for the drop shadows, sometimes a third value for the accents ( the darkest darks)

_one value for the lights ( lighter than the mid-tone)
_ another one  ( even lighter) for the highlights.

I did the drawing in charcoal, "inked" it in with some watered down soft grey ( black, yellow ochre and white) and painted the shadows and drop shadows.

Then I painted the lights and higlights.



Finally I painted some lighter greys between the leaves and into the moldings.


I guess it sounds and looks easy but I do not think it really is.
If you work, like in this example in flat tones with no gradations ( no blending, it is not possible anyway if, like me, you paint with casein paints on a very absorbent surface) you have to put your strokes in the right place ( this means that you must have a good knowledge of how lights and shadows behave on complex volumes) and these strokes must have the right shape ( which implies that your hand can draw with your brush).
If this was easy we would all be great painters and beautiful paintings would not fascinate us like they do .

If you use the same technique but allow yourself to do a little bit of softening on the edges of you tones, this is what you will get...



3 commentaires:

  1. Je suis bouche baie devant tant de talent! Vous êtes un magicien! Comme j'aurais aimé être votre élève!
    Amitiés,
    Sylvie

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  2. As Sylvie here above I am looking at this with open mouth!!! GORGEOUS!!!
    Oh my dear I would love to have that horse painting!!!!Stunning!!!
    xx
    Greet

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  3. Merci Sylvie....tout es poir n'est pas perdu :) , je compte organiser une ou deux semaines de cours par an dans mon atelier des l'année prochaine .

    Greet,

    I know about your passion for horses and horse riding, I would be very happy to paint horses for you!!! Thank you for your kind comment.

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