I knew the shadows in the scene would shift fairly rapidly so I did a quick thumbnail sketch. This helps to cement the image in my mind, simplifies everything down to the most obvious tones and provides a reference for later, when the light has changed.
The principal focus of this painting was to be one bright white shed half-tucked under a large tree. It shone like a beacon against the very dark green shadows that surrounded it but it soon disappeared into shadow as the sun headed west. The thumbnail sketch, and the image in my memory from doing it, saved the day.
I began with a large, semi-random wash of some warm earth colour. I gently wiped over parts of this with a clean cloth to get rid of almost all the white primer. I didn’t want any bright whites competing with the shed.
If I was into abstract painting, I’d probably stop here and call it done.
I developed the wash a little further, giving some attention to where the major dark tones would be.
From here it was just a matter of painstakingly developing the details of the trees and buildings.
Much of the under-painting remained untouched, as was the plan. The sun didn’t hide behind clouds this time, so I wasn’t tempted to start messing with things not directly related to the main subject area.
Plein air sketch. 49x34cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin
It’s a radical departure from my usual style but it’s something I’ve wanted to try for a very long time. I just needed the right subject matter.
You can go to my previous post to see the obligatory plein air location photo.
There is collective and nice information about Landscape Art. Art is very silent definition of many things.
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