oil on maple panel, 40 cm x 50 cm
Improvised from a photograph this winter taken near Otter Creek in the Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Colors were mixed from Ultramarine blue, Manganese violet, Turner yellow, Chinese Lake, white and black. None of the mixtures displayed even the slighted hint of green.
Having gained some experience with choosing and mixing pigments, I consider, that a next, fruitful step in learning to be a better painter will be to follow Cennini‘s advice and practice drawing – daily.
The colors being so deep and vibrant remind me of New Mexico. It is a snow picture but warms my heart.
Birgit:
I like your canny departures from the dictates of natural phenomena. It appears sundown, yet the snow is counter-illuminated on the shady side and the grasses cast no shadows. Perhaps they are in keeping with the rules that govern that side of the hill. The saturated sky is played off by the delicate colorations elsewhere – all in your chosen suite of hues. Your contrast of big brushwork and delicate details puts me in mind of things Japanese.
Thanks, Ginger and
Jay, checking the photograph, I now realize that I had ignored the shadows at the very bottom of the clumps of beach grass. The fine grasses themselves do not throw noticeable shadows. But, I will not add the shadows, forever and ever, looking at this picture I will think: Jay, shadows!
“Your contrast of big brushwork and delicate details puts me in mind of things Japanese.” That reassures me, I had wondered whether the details of the grasses and trees were too pedantic considering the broader brush strokes elsewhere.
Jay,
I have been thinking about reflections and shadows. Searching A&P, I found that in summer shadows, I admit that …shadows are something that I had a blind spot for. In contrast, I have always been partial to reflections…
In de Chirico’s paintings, I find the shadows frightening. But now, I will attempt to pay attention to shadows and perhaps learn to make friends with them.
Wow Birgit! That’s really pretty. :)
Birgit:
Puts me in mind of an old ’07 post called The Duck Pond wherein one encounters a water plant exhibiting both reflectivity and shadowicity. As I understand, German cinema in the inter-war years used a lot of portentous shadow effects. Wrong era?
Jay,
That is a lovely picture of lilies with …relationship of reflections in the foreground to the shadows beyond.
Wikipedia talks about the German Expressionist films (1920s-1930s)….with designs painted on walls and floors to represent lights, shadows, and objects.
A fun pictures of Nosferatu.
Apparently Hitchcock was sent to Germany to learn film making. Now I now why I was scared of shadows. Looking at your lily picture will cure me.
This painting appears Less Independent than your previous work.
D.,
I know, using landscapes, I am now practicing techniques – Geometry, new pigments to mix, a larger format, different size brushes.
Birgit,
I like your delicate grasses best, and you’re right that they’re fine enough not to make much of a shadow, especially if they’re moving. The shadow at the base of a clump seems almost more a part of the clump than a distinct element.
I guess it’s the slanted dunes you love that make diagonals so prominent in much of your work. But they find their way into the sky, too!