Monthly Archives: December 2011

Twilight Again – Time Lapse Painting

Posted on by

Twilight Again

Although the opening stages in this painting are similar to previous paintings, the final stages of the sky changed the way the painting was to end. I introduced Chrome Green Light into the lower stretches just above the horizon. This colour was then added to other areas and partially blended in. As a green its not particularly strong, not like Chrome Green Deep or Viridian, and its tone is light. But its so distinctive it can easily dominate a painting if it is overused, so I try and moderate it by either blending with colour already laid down or mix with Yellow Ochre or Burnt Sienna. In a way it did dominate this painting to a certain degree. The situation way rescued by having small strokes of the almost pure colour appear close to the broad stretches of the same weak version of the colour. For example, the sky looked positively green until the distant sunlit fields were added in the same colour. This was the only bit of the operation which was planned – in a general sort of way. Colour perception is relative and its difficult to predict the final outcome, so vigilance is needed to keep within the limits of what ‘seems’ normal or natural.

Here’s the video.

Advertisement

Twilight Again – Oil Painting

Posted on by

Twilight Again

With so few daylight hours, twilight time is stretching longer and longer as each day passes. Its hard to ignore. The Sun and Moon in the sky at the same time creating a glow. This year’s November was the mildest on record so the grass has grown and there is a lot of chlorophyll contributing to this glow.

This was the reason I included Chrome Green Light in the colours. Its a very warm green and light in colour as the name suggests. The other colours are dark in comparison and these were used in the underpainting. As this green was going to play an important role in the ground colours and I always strive for a harmony in the colours in the overall painting, I introduced the green into the later stages of the sky painting. The painting looked odd, with the green sky, until the same green was placed on the ground. This had an almost magical effect of reducing the apparent ‘greeness’ of the sky. You will see this in the video as the sky was painted almost to completion before the ground ‘light colour’s were added.

The colours were: Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cobalt Blue, Raw Umber and Chrome Green Light, plus black and white. This time I used Liquin and the handling was much easier than the last painting, which had Linseed Oil only. As this painting dries, the dark colours will become very dull as is usual. I will ‘oil out’ with a Linseed oil and White Spirits mix. I have found that this counteracts the ‘dulling’ which Liquin tends to do with colours and, as discussed in previous posts, will make the painting safe for varnishing whenever it dries.

The video will be ready for posting in the next few days. Come back and check it out.