Sunday, June 30, 2013

Less Thinner, More Color

Last Saturday my friend, Arlene Daniel, and I headed up to Galax, North Carolina to participate in a plein air paint-out at beautiful Mount Vale Vineyards. We left early so we could scout out a good spot to paint; we succeeded in a big way. We found shelter from the sun while overlooking a gorgeous mountain vista that was still under the cover of a morning fog.

Perfect spot to paint at Mount Vale Vineyards; shade,
fun people and lots of lovely views to paint



I noticed that the church to our right was in a veil of soft fog, which is one of my favorite things to paint. It is hard to paint fog as it lifts quickly and you are left with a lot of bright color and detail, none of which you wanted to see until the painting was completed. The trick is to get the colors and values you see onto the canvas right away, take a mental snapshot and keep painting what you saw before the fog lifted. This is not an easy task. I also took a photo in case I needed reference for later. This painting came about quickly and with less effort than usual, but I wasn't sure why.

Painting of early morning fog at Mount Vale Vineyard.

Now that the fog was gone, I chose another view to my left and began to work on that. Same thing happened. The painting went quickly and I was pleased with it. I had to figure out why!

Painting of distant farm after the fog lifted.

I took stock of how I had been painting that morning and I realized that I had not been dipping my brush into the Gamsol (mineral spirits) nearly as often as I usually do. I had been cleaning paint from my brush with a dry paper towel and avoiding the Gamsol. This kept my paint thicker and stronger in color. I was able to lay the color on without blending it in, which gave a cleaner look to the painting. I was forced to mix the in between colors and paint them on the canvas rather than creating a muddy mid-color with a brush full of paint thinner.

This week in the studio, I continued using this new method and was very happy with the results. I finished two paintings that I had started months ago. One had been going well and I was a bit afraid to start work on it again - the other one had problems. I finished both and am pleased with both, but that's not to say I won't find something to fix later!

Traveling with Family - 11x14 Oil

Three Dancers - 12 x 16 Oil