Monthly Archives: December 2014

Advent

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Advent

Advent

Advent, a time of expectant waiting and preparation. And so it is. The little ones have no problem preparing for the celebration of the Nativity, its the arrival of Santa Clause which causes most concern. One grandchild could not understand why Santa came down the chimney to deliver their gifts, and why he does not use the door like everybody else. The mystery and suspense makes it a magical time, especially for children.

I’m reminded of the poem, Advent, by Patrick Kavanagh where he writes about adults loosing something by thinking they know everything.
“We have tested and tasted too much, lover-
Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder.
But here in the Advent-darkened room
Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea
Of penance will charm back the luxury
Of a child’s soul, we’ll return to Doom
The knowledge we stole but could not use.”

Appropriately the colour which dominates this painting is purple, a colour I started to use a few months back. Like green, its a secondary colour made by mixing 2 primaries, yellow and blue for green, red and blue for purple. My usual colour scheme is 3 primaries (yellow, red, blue) and 1 secondary. For me, red includes Umbers, Burnt Sienna as well as the obvious reds like Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson. In fact, the range representing each of my primaries is very broad but I think the 3 primaries should be present in some form to produce the widest range of colours and help the ‘natural’ look of a landscape. Because the resultant secondaries are sometimes not the expected colour (here Burnt Sienna (red) and Ultramarine (blue) does not produce a strong purple) I used a ‘tube’ purple.

The colours used here were Raw Sienna (yellow), Burnt Sienna (red), Ultramarine (blue) plus Dioxaline Purple. Black and white are also used but not considered as colours.

The painting is 12″x9″ and was painted with a single long bristle filbert and a very fine nylon for thin lines. I also used a painting knife for really thin lines. I used only solvent, no medium, and the painting was completed in a single 2 hour session.

Here’ the video of the painting process.

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December

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December

December

We have not had snow, yet, but these frosty foggy days, for a few hours each day, leave a carpet of white, glowing until its burnt away by the midday sun.

I liked the contrast between the dark ragged spiky hawthorn tree and the blanket of soft white frost. As you will see in the video, I used a painting knife to draw the fine branches of the tree. No brush, regardless of how small, could achieve the sharpness of these lines on such a small painting (12″x9″).

A painting knife is specifically designed, like a builder’s trowel, to allow paint be applied without your fingers touching the surface of the painting. A palette knife is usually flat and difficult to use as a painting tool. The only time I use a painting knife is when I need a fine line, either by painting as above or scratching into the wet paint.

This painting has the same colours as the previous one i.e. Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Dioxazine Purple, Cerulean Blue plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits.

Here’s the video of the painting process which took just under 2 hours. Excuse the slightly ‘dodgy’ clip of the painting of the river..No, I was not using 2 brushes at the same time – SD card problems while recording!

First Frost

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First Frost

First Frost

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas with heavy white frosts, the first we’ve seen this winter. The farm animals, by now, are all housed and there is very little agricultural activity on the land.

Dioxazine Purple is the underlying colour and this gives a coolness in keeping with the subject. The blue is Cerulean, a warm soft colour. The purple was used to darken the blue at the top of the sky. It was also used in the distance to add atmosphere.

When I painted the foreground, I left as much purple under-colour as possible. The green in this area is a very subtle shade produced by adding a little blue to raw sienna. This was a rich mid tone and when pure white was added to represent the frost it produced nice highlights of green.

The 4 colours used were: Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Dioxazine Purple, Cerulean Blue plus black and white. There was no medium used, only White Spirits.

Here’s the video of the process, which took about an hour and a half. The painting is 12″ x 9″. See you soon.