Tag Archives: Time lapse painting

‘May Chills’ – another 2 part painting

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‘May Chills’

The last painting (here) was in 2 parts. The first part included sky and horizon and was allowed to dry before finishing. For a beginner this makes the task a little easier if trees and foliage are to be painted onto the sky. Painting delicate branches and leaves onto a wet sky does not allow for mistakes and corrections usually requiring scraping off, repainting the sky and trying again. A little solvent on a tissue or cloth will completely remove wet paint from a dry layer allowing multiple attempts or corrections.

This painting was completely covered in the first stage and allowed to dry – easier still. Remember using Alkyd Fast Drying Oils by Winsor & Newton in the initial stage means you can paint the second stage the following day – faster in warmer weather. If you feel the need to use a medium (I don’t) use Liquin which is also fast drying. Don’t forget to thoroughly clean the brush when finished.

Because the first stage contained some dark colours these, as usual, dried matt and consequently a little lighter in tone. Before proceeding in the second stage I ‘oiled out’ the surface by rubbing a very light coating of W&N oil painting medium into the surface with a cloth. This gives the dry painting the appearance of a freshly painted surface. This wetting of the surface will also help the application of the fresh paint. As a rule I don’t use Liquin to ‘oil out’ as it dries very fast and could seal and retard from drying, paint which was not fully dry in the under layer.

Here is a video of the process. To view in realtime change setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD. This painting uses 4 colours (Yellow Ochre, Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Cobalt Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used in the first stage, only White Spirits (Petroleum spirits). W&N painting medium was used in the second stage. 2 brushes used – No. 12 Filbert bristle & a Nylon liner. Ground is Fredrix Canvas Pad 10″x8″.

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Summer Afternoon

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Summer Afternoon

This painting uses only 3 colours (Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits.

The size is 16.5″ x 12″.

To view in realtime change setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD.

Summer Woodland

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Summer Woodland

This painting is16.5″ x 10″. Only 3 colours are used (Cadmium Yellow, Bright Red, Cobalt Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits.

This is a video of the painting process. To view in realtime change setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD.

Near Maganey

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Near Maganey

Late afternoon sunshine illuminates the trees on this high bank of the Barrow River. The Barrow Drainage of the 1920’s deepened the river along its length and the dredged material was deposited on the banks. In many places, like here, this material is still intact, creating interesting landscapes of sun and deep rich shadows.

The sunlit green of the trees against the sky was produced with a transparent mix of yellow and a little blue. Normally highlighted areas in oil painting contain white and are opaque. In this case a transparent film of colour was placed on the wet sky colour. Where this background was mostly white it made the colour glow. Notice when the same colour is placed on a background with less white, how muted it is. To match the tone white was added to the mix used in these areas.

There are 3 colours used in this painting (Indian Yellow, Permanent Rose, Ultramarine Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits. The size is 16.5″ x 12″.

Here is a video of the painting process. To view in realtime change setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD.

Long Evening

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Long Evening

This painting uses only 3 colours (Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue) plus black and white. All paints are Alkyd fast drying oil paints. There is no medium used, only White Spirits.

The size is 16.5″ x 12″. The substrate is primed un-stretched canvas. Brushes: A single No.8 Filbert Bristle & Nylon Liner. A No.12 Filbert Bristle was used to blend sky colours. It was painted in a single ‘wet on wet’ session of about 2 hours.

To view in realtime change speed setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD.

Inlet

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Inlet

Spring is here.

The sunlit portion of the far riverbank (one third distance in from the right hand side) is where all journeys into this scene end. I concealed it behind the foliage of the small tree to add more mystery and interest.

To reinforce this point of interest I created 2 sunbeams spotlighting this area. But the principal device leading the eye towards the sunlit riverbank are a series of noticeable colours on the left foreground riverbank. Starting in the lower left corner with purple (from the underpainting), next the lighter green highlights, then a few spots of crimson (also from the underpainting) lead to the orange and across the water to the point of interest.

Hopefully this adds a little interest to an uneventful traditional scene.

This painting uses only 3 colours (Cadmium Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits. The size is 16.5″ x 12″ and was painted in a single ‘wet on wet’ session in about 2 hours.

Here is the video of the painting process. Using the YouTube settings, on the bottom bar on the screen, the speed can be changed. The standard speed is 4x and the video lasts about 30 minutes. To view in realtime change setting to .25. This is about 2 hours. My favourite is the fastest setting, 2. This is a snappy 8 minutes. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD.

Beside the Lake

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Beside the Lake

A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
(WILLIAM WORDSWORTH)

The yellow blobs of paint in the foreground needed to be recognisable as daffodils. These ‘explain’ the yellow blobs in other areas of the scene – they must also be daffodils.

I truncated the daffodil stems in the foreground to suggest we are looking over them and along the lake shore to the gate and further into the scene.

As usual I’m using various elements of the composition to draw the viewer into the painting. Diagonal lines, repeated shapes and colours. Like the strong yellow of the foreground flowers repeated in the reflections in the water and further to the sunlit trees in the distance, reinforced by the patch of bright sunlight in the top right corner of the painting, or the ‘scratchy’ line of the fence wire leading us to the ‘scratchy’ gate or the ‘zig-zag’ route through the daffodils to entice us in.

There are 3 colours used in this painting, Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson & Ultramarine Blue plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits. The size is 16.5″ x 12″ of primed un-stretched canvas which will be laminated onto a stiff board when the painting is dry.

Here is the video of the painting process. To view in realtime change setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD.

Wetlands

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Wetlands

Wetlands

The emergence of spring green with the remains of winter browns is always an inspiration.

I’m using my usual composition to draw the viewer into the painting. The diagonal lines from the corners lead the eye into the landscape, around the central group of trees, to the mysterious mountain in the distance.

There is the appearance of perspective because of the regular size reduction, with distance, seen in the trees. I was trying to avoid the cliche of the line of trees running into the distance with the appropriate perspective applied. So the trees are grouped, flat-on to the viewer, and placed at receding distances. The central group have 3 shorter trees on the left to help the illusion. I think it is more interesting like this.

I’m making much use of underpainting and allowing it to be part of the final painting. I’m choosing transparent colours as these work best and glow in the final painting.

The size is 16.5″ x 12″ and was painted in a single ‘wet on wet’ session in about 2 hours.
This painting uses only 3 colours (Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits.

Here is the video of the painting process. To view in realtime change speed setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD. See you soon.

February Marsh

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February Marsh

February Marsh

Highlight colour usually contains white. The more white the lighter the tone, the weaker the colour. I used very little white in these foreground colours in order to get rich colour. The dark colourless shapes of the trees on the right emphasises this colour. Notice the transparent under colour layer of blue also in here using colour contrast to help emphasise the richness of the colour. To see these details click on the picture above to see an enlarged version.

The size is 16.5″ x 12″ and was painted in a single ‘wet on wet’ session in about 2 hours. This painting uses only 3 colours (Cadmium Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits.

Here is the video of the painting process. To view in realtime change speed setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD. See you soon.

Morning Mist

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Morning Mist

Morning Mist

These mornings are deceptively cold. The warm sky colours of dawn has the landscape glowing. In the woods an icy blue mist sits on the pond.

This week instead of colours and the application of paint I will say a little about the planning and design in this painting. As usual this starts as a general plan which is constantly changing as the painting progresses. The under colours, opposite of the final colours, mark out the general shapes.

From the start the open gate was going to be the entrance into this scene. I was manipulating the sky shapes to subtly lead the eye into the opening. See how many lines of colour point the way through this open gate. Foreground plough ridges and pathway also lead the eye in. In the sky I was also trying to keep warm and cool colours playing against each other without a noticeable divide between them. Neutral grey was used to separate the warms and cools. In the early stages the opening and gate was marked with a heavy blob of paint to remind me where it would be. This is on the ‘one third in from the edge’ position, the recommended centre of interest in landscape painting, but I always try and disguise obvious construction elements. This I will do later.

Of course there is the danger of an unbalanced composition with all this activity on the right hand side. To balance the composition I used strong bright sky colour, just above the horizon, extending to the left. I introduced this colour very early in the painting and continued to add raw yellow and white to intensify the colour. The colour is blurred into the distance to give further ‘weight’ to the left.

Finally the trees were added like weights to balance the left and right hand sides. The tallest and heaviest tree is on the left of the two in the centre. Its a little inside the ‘one third’, from the left, as the other tree is a little inside the ‘one third’ from the right. So the ‘one third’ rule is applied to create a balance but using it twice makes it less obvious.

I have to be careful not to overwork. Sometimes ‘mistakes’ I was about to correct, but didn’t, seem not so noticeable after a few days. Other times ‘mistakes’ add interest. After moving around the scene adding or painting out details, I stop when the overall design and composition seems to be right.

There are 3 colours used (Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue) plus black and white. There is no medium used, only White Spirits. The size is 16.5″ x 12″. The painting time was about 2 hours, in a single ‘wet on wet’ session.

Here is the video of the process. To view in realtime change speed setting to .25. Quality can also be set up to 1080HD.