Painting Course – Day 8

I was using the small fan brush and one of the synthetic brushes for painting the leaves. Basically I followed the same technique than the earlier days with the fan brush. The rounded brush helps to add variety to the leaves shapes. Ochre and cadmium yellow for the leaves. I was also working on the trunks, I was applying light colors to get some lights.

Probably you remember I wanted to improve the right area between the mountain and the grass. It seemed to me like a wall. I talked to my teacher. I proposed to increase the mountain. He discouraged me from doing it and he suggested to increase the grass level, it was much easier and the result would be equivalent. I did it but the problem was not fixed. Thus, when I was working on the leftmost tree, I extended part of its foliage to cover that area. It is not exactly the Deb’s suggestion but it solves the problem and helps to give the field more depth looking.

I am not sure if I will go to the next class, I have to give my own classes the next week. Maybe I will take just one hour. Only the house and the water reflections remain.

Painting Course – Day 5

I guess I am starting to finish the painting. I could be painting it many days more but surely I would not improve it. I was working on the water. Basically, I used a dark brown for the side nearest to the trees that I was lightning gradually. Then I added the reflections of the trees. The teacher said I only had to add a few of them. I have no idea if we will add the others the next day. It seems incomplete to me. Once I painted the reflections, I blurred them. I also added some touches of dark greens and reds.

Also I work on the island in the foreground. I used the small fan brush like I did the last week. I used cadmium yellow and ochre. It has light colors. I used the same colors for the grass to the left of the trees and the area near to the mountains.

Finally I added the shadows of the trees. It changed drastically the painting. I am happy with this area. I think it is the only area which I am happy (better partially happy). The light goes from left to right, so all the right area has darker tones than the left one.

What’s the next? Really I don’t know. I have not worked on the path neither the house behind the trees. I should work on the trees: they require some branches, now they seem posts. They mountain also needs some work, maybe I will use the magical fan brush.

Painting Course – Day 4

Today I was also working on the mountains and the trees and started with the ground. The mountains had to be clearer in similar tones to the sky ones. There was something wrong with it: the brush strokes looked like waves on water, the colors do not look so good either… and so on. Thus, I decided to leave it for the next day.

The new fan brushes work really good. I used the fan brush No. 6 for the trees. Basically I used yellow ochre although some zones have a pinch of green or red-brown. The teacher’s comment here was that I had to use much more oil, we are looking for a sort of texture, we must cover the darker colors with each brush stroke.

And, as the teacher said, the grass was growing in my painting! I used the fan brush No. 2 with yellow and little bit of green in the distant zones near to the mountain, and yellow ochre in the closest ones. The effect obtained with these brushes is so cool. The grass and leaves textures can be easily achieved with them.

I will need at least a couple of hours, the next lecture, for finishing the painting. I must keep working on the mountain (adding details) and the trees (basically the trunks and adding some contrast in the leaves) but I must start with the path, the house and the hardest zone: the lake in the right bottom side of the canvas. The trees are reflected in the lake and its water has a very dark brown tone. Fortunately the waves on water will not be a trouble: I was practicing in the mountain today!

Painting Course – Day 3

Today I was working on the mountains and the trees. And I kept detailing the sky. I started with the sky the last day but it was a little bit dark. So I was adding some light violets and white. There is not a big difference but now it is closer to the original model. Probably I will work on it the next day, too.

Concerning mountains and trees, the teacher explained the goals to me: achieve the darkest background color in both zones, blue-violet for the mountains and green for the leaves. Once I finished, I followed the same idea with the trunks and some parts of the ground. I used browns made with cyan blue, magenta and cadmium yellow medium.

At the end of the lecture the teacher reviewed my painting and gave me some ideas about the next day. I will start to paint the leaves. Really he already started with the leftmost trees while he was showing how to use the secret weapon for leaves: the fan brush. I must buy a couple of them for the next day (no. 2 and 6). The teacher used yellow ochre for the leaves although we will also add madder carmine.