Day Sixty Eight: Breezy Autumn by George Inness
Hello and welcome to day 68 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today study is of 'Breezy Autumn' by George Inness.
A very nice late middle period Inness painting today. On today's video narration I will be continuing on with my reading from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky, so please check that out.
Continuing on with our current assay regarding my Tonalist painting process; today I would like to talk about edges in painting. Edges are one of the main areas that I have gotten better at in the last few years. This is after many years where I was already aware of the importance of good edges and their impact on landscape painting.
By edges I mean an area where one shape meets or overlaps with another. This could be where the tree overlaps the sky, where a bush overlaps a tree or, where a road or river cuts through the ground plane. All of these areas have edges that need to be negotiated in the painting. Of all the places where edges are critical in the painting the most challenging area has to be where trees overlap the sky. This is the part of the painting that has the greatest amount of contrast between light and dark.
I've talked before in my blog posts about photography and how photographs tend to force objects into being more rigid and contrasting than they are in real life. For example, where a tree overlaps the sky you get a very defined and hard edge in any well focused photograph. I've seen many painters carry this forward into their landscape paintings, mistakenly assuming that that is proper because they believe that photographs are telling them a true story.
The reality is that photographs capture nature in a very limited way compared to our actual vision. If you are using photographs to create paintings you need to be aware of this.
Instead of having a strong contrast where my trees overlap the sky, I like to modulate and soften those edges. There are several ways that a painter can accomplish this, some that are more successful than others. One way is just to use your brush to blend the sky color into the darker tree color and this is a technique that you will see amateur artists embrace, though I use this method sparingly at times. Another approach is to use the ends of the brush to sort of stipple in the edges. This sort of technique was popularized by the speed painting school and by artists like Bob Ross. I do this some times too.
My favorite approach is to start planning for my edges even while preparing my photographic reference to be used for my painting. I will often use various tools in Photoshop to lighten these edges or even lightly erase areas of the trees that are too contrasty. As I stated in my blog post yesterday, one strategy for dealing with the edges (where trees or hills meet the sky), is to mix a color that is one half tree and one half sky and to paint that in. This takes a little more time than some other approaches but is good.
The most effective way I found is to mix a green that's about the same in value as the sky. This gives a color transition but not a value transition. This is without a doubt the number one way I handle the sky/tree contrast issue.
Another place where edges are super critical is clouds in the sky. My main strategy for dealing with clouds is to have my blues in place underneath the cloud forms so that I can use my brush in creative ways to make expressive brush marks where the clouds overlap. It's important that these edges be soft. But it's also important that they not be soft because they've been over worked. Having the right color on your brush to do the job is also key.
Edges in other portions of the painting are generally not as challenging as the aforementioned trees and clouds. But you need to be aware of them all. The main thing is to plan your edges in advance and to use your brush in creative ways to get good edges consistently.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Breezy Autumn' by George Inness; I've been admiring this painting for quite a while. What makes it so strong is the intense use of contrast in the trees against the brighter grass and sky. You can see by the original painting here how masterful George Inness was dealing with edges.
In my study after George's painting I feel that I got across a good impression of his work and I'm very happy with it.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Breezy Autumn by George Inness , Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood pane |
A very nice late middle period Inness painting today. On today's video narration I will be continuing on with my reading from the book George Inness by Nicolai Cikovsky, so please check that out.
Continuing on with our current assay regarding my Tonalist painting process; today I would like to talk about edges in painting. Edges are one of the main areas that I have gotten better at in the last few years. This is after many years where I was already aware of the importance of good edges and their impact on landscape painting.
By edges I mean an area where one shape meets or overlaps with another. This could be where the tree overlaps the sky, where a bush overlaps a tree or, where a road or river cuts through the ground plane. All of these areas have edges that need to be negotiated in the painting. Of all the places where edges are critical in the painting the most challenging area has to be where trees overlap the sky. This is the part of the painting that has the greatest amount of contrast between light and dark.
I've talked before in my blog posts about photography and how photographs tend to force objects into being more rigid and contrasting than they are in real life. For example, where a tree overlaps the sky you get a very defined and hard edge in any well focused photograph. I've seen many painters carry this forward into their landscape paintings, mistakenly assuming that that is proper because they believe that photographs are telling them a true story.
The reality is that photographs capture nature in a very limited way compared to our actual vision. If you are using photographs to create paintings you need to be aware of this.
Instead of having a strong contrast where my trees overlap the sky, I like to modulate and soften those edges. There are several ways that a painter can accomplish this, some that are more successful than others. One way is just to use your brush to blend the sky color into the darker tree color and this is a technique that you will see amateur artists embrace, though I use this method sparingly at times. Another approach is to use the ends of the brush to sort of stipple in the edges. This sort of technique was popularized by the speed painting school and by artists like Bob Ross. I do this some times too.
My favorite approach is to start planning for my edges even while preparing my photographic reference to be used for my painting. I will often use various tools in Photoshop to lighten these edges or even lightly erase areas of the trees that are too contrasty. As I stated in my blog post yesterday, one strategy for dealing with the edges (where trees or hills meet the sky), is to mix a color that is one half tree and one half sky and to paint that in. This takes a little more time than some other approaches but is good.
The most effective way I found is to mix a green that's about the same in value as the sky. This gives a color transition but not a value transition. This is without a doubt the number one way I handle the sky/tree contrast issue.
Another place where edges are super critical is clouds in the sky. My main strategy for dealing with clouds is to have my blues in place underneath the cloud forms so that I can use my brush in creative ways to make expressive brush marks where the clouds overlap. It's important that these edges be soft. But it's also important that they not be soft because they've been over worked. Having the right color on your brush to do the job is also key.
Edges in other portions of the painting are generally not as challenging as the aforementioned trees and clouds. But you need to be aware of them all. The main thing is to plan your edges in advance and to use your brush in creative ways to get good edges consistently.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Breezy Autumn' by George Inness; I've been admiring this painting for quite a while. What makes it so strong is the intense use of contrast in the trees against the brighter grass and sky. You can see by the original painting here how masterful George Inness was dealing with edges.
In my study after George's painting I feel that I got across a good impression of his work and I'm very happy with it.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Breezy Autumn by George Inness |