Painting The Mighty Tree Scene

Painting the Mighty Tree Scene

painting by Mary Margaret

Hi friends!
We previously discussed Drawing the Mighty Tree which can be found here as a blog post. We will take that knowledge and build on it now with environment, developing planes, clustering and dissipation of color and tone and understanding when and where to use cool and warm colors.

Planes; spatial relationships
When developing your composition, allow your eye to do much of the intelligent work of understanding and seeing distance by painting back to front; sky to foreground distance to close up; small to large. If you are going to work back into the background after establishing the fore, that’s fine; just be sure to go back in and develop at least the edges of the object in front so that it appears to be IN FRONT OF the thing behind. Your eye will do all the rest of the work once you make this ground rule your friend.

Strokes in the front, larger than behind add to a sense of perspective.

Break down shapes, chunks/clusters of light and dark; to attribute color to. Find detail and exaggerate interesting forms. Keep things organic with a sense of movement. Allow for elongation and a gentle dissipation of form to avoid large bulky or flat generalizations.

Color; cool and warm
Basically you can use this rule where all shadows consist of blues, greens, purples and grays although that is not exclusive; reds and terracottas can easily seep into cool tones as transitional elements. Build you darks and cool tones then come back on top with light and warmth. Golds, yellows, oranges and whites can be used where there is more light although a warm olive can sometimes really make warmth “real“ and light can also be expressed with cool blue so be aware and paint with your gut once you embrace the "rules"

Place highlights and / or shadows slightly within the object to avoid the look of outlining.

Clustering and Dissipation
Allow color, light and strokes to cluster and dissipate so that a cool area transitions from a cluster of cool intensity out to somewhat even amounts of warm and cool and finally all warm tones and color. This gradation is vital to a natural look. If all areas remain stagnant; dotted evenly throughout an area, the eye does not move in a natural way from distance to fore and vise versa.

Chopping in chunks of color
I sometimes call the manner of working “chopping in” when one allows bits and chunks of color to break into one another, back and forth; cool to warm and warm to cool; dissipating and clustering. This is often quite effective with knife as we build texture, as objects come closer toward us and we see chunks of detail and light!

Our eyes mix color; paint does not have to do all the work!

Use as much variety of color as possible in this type of work to add vitality and interest. Sky does not have to be blue, grass does not have to be green etc.; PLAY and learn color!

Keep imagery uneven, staggered and interesting!

When painting any object, imagine you are actually painting, texturing and touching AROUND that object to develop strokes which emulate it's mood and volume.

All the best and we will develop all and more in time! B

Taking in commentary from others on our art:

Taking in commentary from others on our art:

You likely already know this but art of course can not be "wrong". If you are expressing self, that expression of self can not be wrong. It may appear displeasing or harsh or beautiful or compelling or provoke any variety responsive emotions from others which are based on their interpretations based on their life experiences and tastes etc.

What makes art intriguing is our unique way of expressing. What would be interesting about art if it were all the same; somehow supposedly fulfilling the status quo for others, so they would not feel threatened or challenged by anything? In this somehow “make believe” world where all behaviors and comments would be positive could we really grow or would we be giving up self to attempt to please others in the hopes that we would only receive positive strokes?

I believe when family or friends make comments that insult or somehow infer the work is flawed; it is likely because they fear that if you grow (with your art), you will change and the relationship will shift in some way. Of course, this fear is largely unconscious in most. This is their inner critic trying to maintain the status quo of the relationship. Often, these people are not aware of why they are doing what they are doing and the impact on you.
They may not even allow you time to analyze your own work as they have pre-condemned it for you. We all make judgments based on our experiences and tastes but for someone to actually believe unsolicited negative opinions are ok to express is unconscious behavior; everyone is growing from where they were and where they are in any given moment. They likely are afraid of your growth and happiness. Perhaps they see you being happy for the first time in a long time or happy in a new way than usual and are threatened that your source of happiness doesn’t include them. Perhaps they have not been able to unleash their creative artistic independence as you have or feel you are closing the gap on accomplishments with them, such as an artistic peer, and do not feel good about that.

Again, all of this may be unconscious on their part. They may not consciously understand their reaction or what is going on, but just know the feelings they have and then they express criticism.

The work may indeed need improvement, often times one sees weak areas and comes to know how to improve and build on strengths as we gain insight, skill and confidence through hard work and intelligent contemplation. This process comes from within and is halted by believing negative opinions.

If you ask someone for a real critique, that's different. Ask someone with artistic knowledge, not a family member or friend who may feel threatened. Asking for a critique is different then asking for an emotional response of an “I like it”, “I don’t like it” evaluation. There are healthy ways of discussing art and an art piece that don't belittle or judge the person.

So...when you hear comments; observe and take in the fact that others are reacting and let it go! It’s their opinion, their words, you don’t own them and are not identified by them and can choose to not react.

Perhaps there is something, however, you can gain within from the words they are saying; perhaps not. Let’s take an example. Someone sees your work and says: “It’s so dark!” Your immediate response may be to prove it is not so dark or that you are not depressed or that you are actually happy or that you did it wrong and therefore you are giving out an unintentional negative message in your work which you are sorry for or that you are no good at art or life in general or any number of other self doubting messages you are sending yourself.

Now let’s look at the person who spoke these three words that sent us spiraling: Is the person who made the comment only happy when they see bright colors because their parents told them bright colors are happy and once, when they showed their parents a dark painting; their parents got mad, offended or disturbed? Are they therefore wanting you to only paint bright colors to satisfy their inner critic which they‘ve never really investigated but have “learned responses“ to? Are they in fear that you may have a feeling, sadness etc which may mean something about them or that they won’t know how to deal with? There are all sorts of “agendas” others have, some conscious, some unconscious.

Now; let’s look at the painting and the intent. Did you use dark colors? Were they necessary for the intent of the work? Now, when someone says “It’s so dark”; you may like to respond by saying “YES!” If they are caring or intrigued; they may ask investigative open minded questions to learn more about you!

We are not trying to please anyone but if they happen to be thrilled and pleased...YEAH! Celebrate! If they don’t like it; fine. If they comment negatively; realize they may believe they are “helping” but are more likely than not; speaking from their view of the world. Don't buy into it. Just know it is their view, not yours.

Celebrate your individuality...we are each unique people and have rich inner lives to express! Art is often a statement, often controversial and if we water everything down to be pleasing to all, believe me, they won't like that either so like your own work, take risks and express; quieting the critic's voice in your head; give yourself that and know your art comes from your authentic self! When you create from your authentic self, it may throw critics off, do it anyway, everyone’s journey is unique. Love your art, the journey of creating and yourself for creating it....we are all so fortunate to be able to create!

Are there ways for us to improve; technically, aesthetically and expressively in our work? Let's hope so or we'd be done! Is how our growth manifests, the job of others to decide for us? Impossible, let's not give seemingly negative comments power. Let's give the positive helpful ones some power in the form of incentive and lets stay focused on improvement, truth, centeredness and the knowing of self!

We have no control over others but we have control over how we choose to hear and react. Choose confidence, choose growth, choose exploration of the glorious gifts you were given; you'll find it much more fulfilling than getting bogged down in the meaningless voices!

If Picasso had “obeyed” the many critics who he must have lived amongst, might he have chosen a career of painting bluebonnets?

By Bonny Leibowitz with critical input by Annette Anderson
Bonny Leibowitz
www.bonnyleibowitz.com
Bonnyfineart@aol.com
Annette Anderson
http://www.annetteanderson.com/

CLOUDS and SKIES; Creating Volume and Light:

CLOUDS and SKIES; Creating Volume and Light:

Build up with washes

Find darks and develop light out of the darks

Build volume with lighter/ brighter tones and color in layers

Do not build light (or dark) on edges only, as this will tend to flatten an image. Build light within the area too, some of which comes out to the edge. You will sometimes see light on the edge of a “thing“, perhaps a cloud; this is often caused by particular lighting. Reflective light: When observing light on an object; the eye may “think” there is a light “line” around the edge, only to discover, upon further inspection, that after the light line, there is a darker line again before the “end” of an object (from one‘s perspective). One can sometimes see this on a vase or figure more easily. Try to show this when possible, it adds to the quality of “realism”. After creating the light, one can enhance the image with a subtle darker area, in part, in an uneven manner toward the edge.

Paint has very different qualities than photography and nature. To create your best painting, one can use photography, paintings by others and nature as references and then must ultimately judge the piece by it’s own merits and make choices which best suit the piece one is working on, allowing all references to finally be set aside.

Even if your photo has elements which appear “disconnected“, you can make your painting cohesive by knowing you are not confined to the reference only. Bringing your spirit, intuition and knowledge to the canvas is the ultimate means of expression. Your painting will not look just like your reference. Be proud of it‘s differentia and your unique qualities!

Bold contrasts, light and dark, create drama. Be sure to transition with gradation of tone, even when dealing with high contrast, so areas do not appear to end abruptly.

Keep things uneven. When creating light areas, be sure they are not equal distance and or completely circular, but rather, elongated and closer to the edge in some areas, further in others. This creates an organic, free form natural look.

Keep all elements “connected” somehow, through color, shape and or tone. Build darks and lights with directional intent to keep the eye circulating within the canvas. This sometimes means judging if your eye wants to roam off and if so; how can you lead it back in with subtle tonal changes?

You may like to build texture in some areas, as the piece progresses, to accentuate the effects of volume.

Additional notes:

Change up size of stroke

Change up size of brush

Keep direction consistent but change up size of cloud
So, if you have a two inch cloud with and inch of space before the next one, make the next cloud three inches long with an overlap transition into the next cloud or a one and one half inch space in between.

Highlight your clouds to varying degrees in varying widths and heights.

Be aware of each cloud individually and stand back for the big picture; seeing how they relate.

Keep all things varied for a natural look. Nature does have patterns but we can’t know all elements of wind and light that result in what we see so in most cases; variety is what our eye perceives of as natural. Most clouds do not line up in a neat row (although this does happen on occasion) so random light and size should be your mantra here.

Remember bright will come forward, darksand muted tones recede. So as you build your cloud forward; build light, allowing shades to gradate and recede as the cloud diminishes into the distance. Muted tones also tend to recede and help create distance.

Look, look, look! Studying your resource VERY closely is key. Try to find small nuances. The brain wants to paint what it knows, the eye wants to paint what is. Taking the time to really look closely at your resource pays off! Even if your painting does not look like your resource in the end, you have made variations based on your eye and new knowledge, not old thinking patterns.

All the best and enjoy your happy, cloudy, stormy, dreamy, elusive, powerful, wispy cloud paintings!


Bonny Leibowitz
bonnyfineart@aol.com
www.thebonnystudio.com
214-405-5993