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Every
month there will be a photograph or sketch on this page for you to convert into
a painting. Accompanying the photograph will be some thoughts on the subject
plus some tips on ways of tackling the painting. My painting from the photograph
will appear at the beginning of the following month, giving you a month to do
your painting.
Monthly
painting project 16
RED
BARN,
NEW ENGLAND
FEBRUARY
2010
How
did you get on painting the
New England
barn?
Here
is my painting and my thoughts on how to paint it.
‘The Red Barn,New England’
CONCEPT
I
wanted this painting to say
New England
in the Fall with the barn as the central focus. I decided to have the centre of
interest on the loading bay on the left hand end of the barn. I moved the barn
slightly to the right in order to put in more of the glorious autumn trees,
which are part of the rationale for the painting.
COMPOSITION
As
I’ve said above, part of my thinking about concept was to move the barn to the
right. The road in the photograph was leading the eye out of the picture on the
right so I reversed the direction of the road to point to my selected centre of
interest. I also omitted the fence.
Two
alternative compositions are shown in the tonal sketches in CONTRAST below. I
chose tonal plan A but tonal plan B would have been equally good. I’ve
introduced a truck and some people by the loading bay at the centre of interest
to draw the viewer’s eye here.
CONTRAST
The
day was rather dull as shown in the photograph but I decided I needed to
introduce some sunshine to light up the scene so I produced the tonal plans
shown below.
Red Barn Tonal Plans’
In
tonal plan A, which I adopted, the sun is coming from the left and in tonal plan
B from the right. It’s a useful exercise to produce some tonal plans before
you start to paint to work out where you are going to have maximum contrast and
to locate the centre of interest. These monochrome postcard-sized tonal plans
only take a few minutes but are invaluable guides to the tonal possibilities. I
urge you produce tonal plans like this for all your paintings.
COLOUR
There
are a range of materials and textures here to paint. At the centre of interest
the deep red colour of the barn is at its strongest and fades in the shadowed
faces. Whilst the wash was still wet I used a penknife to scratch out some lines
to indicate the edges of the horizontal boarding. I’ve also made the most of
the blazing autumn trees at this point. The grey slate mansard roof has two
pitches or slopes so I’ve made the lower slope a slightly darker grey. The
yellow/green field has been painted a soft focus raw sienna with some green and
light red dropped whilst the first wash was still wet.
COMPLETION
I
feel the re-designed composition and the contrast and colours used give the
impression of this lovely
New England
barn in the Fall, which was my original concept. However, on reviewing the
painting some time later I realised that it had a very horizontal dominance and
I felt it needed some vertical elements as a counterfoil to this so I added the
telegraph poles – the overhead lines appear in the photograph so I felt it was
a legitimate bit of artistic licence. It always pays to put a painting away and
come back to it later.
Next month’s project awaits you.
I’d
like to hear from you if you are doing the Monthly Project or if you are just
looking at it – please send me an email at robertnewcombe@btinternet.com
to let me know if you are finding the painting tips and solutions helpful and
perhaps a copy of your painting solution for me to comment on. If you are
sending me your painting as an image attachment you will need to photograph it
with a digital camera and download it onto a computer – if you don’t use a
computer yourself I’m sure you will have a child, grandchild, nephew or niece
who will gladly do it for you. It would be useful to know where in the
UK
or other country that you live.
Monthly
painting project 17
The
Custom House,
Kings Lynn, West Norfolk
March 2010
The
King's Lynn
Custom House is one of the town's most iconic landmarks. It was designed by
architect Henry
Bell and built by Sir John Turner in 1685. Initially, Customs only occupied
the top floor and the ground floor was used by merchants for trading - however
merchants were unhappy that they were so far from the Tuesday Market Place and
by 1717 Customs occupied the entire building.
Whilst
today the building is no longer used by Customs it is still a gateway to the
town as it houses the town's Tourist Information Office. It is also a Grade I
listed building.
The
building was described by architect Nikolaus
Pevsner as "one of the most perfect buildings ever built".
‘The Custom House,
King’s Lynn’
Here
are my thoughts on how to paint it.
CONCEPT
I
wanted this painting to say ’Iconic and beautifully proportioned building’
– so the architectural design is the star here and clearly the centre of
interest.
COMPOSITION
The
photograph shows the Custom House in its setting by the water so an opportunity
for reflections. The position of the Custom House is rather central – will you
move it to right or left? And what to do with the buildings on the left and the
distant buildings on the right behind the bridge? And what about the bridge
itself – how will you treat that? Plenty of compositional challenges to solve.
CONTRAST
It
was rather a dull day with only a little weak sunshine coming from the right and
weak shadows; I see strong shadows as essential to give building subjects a 3-D
appearance. So you will have to invent some sunshine and shadows but from which
direction will the sun come? You could light up the front or the side facing the
water. This will dictate the shadow pattern and highlight the area of greatest
contrast. This would be another good opportunity to try some tonal sketches
before you start painting.
COLOUR
The
Custom House is in pale yellow stone and the adjoining buildings are red brick.
The roofs are tiled. There is a double fronted white building on the right which
may need toning down so that it doesn’t detract from the main building. The
water will reflect the sky but usually a half tone darker. Remember that dark
objects reflect lighter and light objects reflect darker in water.
COMPLETION
This
is a chance for some accurate but impressionistic drawing and painting here.
Don’t overdo the detail and stop when you feel you have done justice to this
magnificent building.
My
interpretation will be here on the 1st of April.
A HELPFUL TIP ON
SCALING UP
It
is important that in scaling up the photograph the exact proportions are
maintained otherwise the drawn copy will be distorted.
To
scale up a photograph or sketch accurately place the corner of the photograph
exactly on one corner of the sheet of paper as shown below and draw a line using
a straightedge from one corner of the photograph to the diagonally opposite
corner of the photograph and continue the diagonal line to strike the edge of
the painting paper (see diagram below). Where the diagonal line strikes the edge
of the paper draw a vertical or horizontal line, depending on whether your line
strikes the top or side edge of the paper. The paper dimensions within the
vertical or horizontal line are exactly proportional to the dimensions of the
photograph. You can then draw a 3 x 3 grid on the paper which will
proportionately match the grid on the photograph and enable you to transfer the
image accurately.
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