Friday, January 28, 2011

Juniper Forest-Lesson 3


JuniperForest-Lesson 3
Originally uploaded by BYarborough
For oils lesson three we continue to learn about composition. Photo ref was taken while hiking in the hills above our house a few days ago. There is a lovely high desert meadow and mini juniper forest that I really like to walk through. There's lots of dappled shade and a variety of desert vegetation. Royal Talens water miscible oil is now under the brand Cobra instead of Van Gogh H2Oil. Same paint, different look to the tube :-) I also have a few tubes of Holbein Duo -- I like all of them equally well.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Pears


Pears - Corrected
Originally uploaded by BYarborough
We are still working in composition in Nel's class, this week it was to paint with a "path of dark" or a "path of light." Originally the shelf was dark but it melded into the striped wall and made the pears look like they were floating, so I lightened up the shelf. I MAY have lightened it too much as I think I've lost the "fork" shaped path of dark. I do think it's more appealing this way, though.
This was done with two colors plus white and I used Van Gogh H2Oils in Indian Yellow and Blue Violet. I found out that Indian Yellow is VERY transparent, which made the pears to be most difficult. I used a variety of blending brushes, especially on the shadows and shading. Note to self: Check transparency before deciding on colors!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

With Corrections


With Corrections
Originally uploaded by BYarborough
Okay. . .I couldn't stand the "marching ants" and so pulled up some of the bushes and gave some others some growth vitamins ;-)
For some reason (probably better/morning lighting) this one is brighter and more true to life.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Intermediate Oils - Lesson 1

The finished painting after much angst. I haven't painted with oils in over a year and ran into memory blocks while working on this. The vegetation was done at the end of the day and I had lighting problems, didn't see the "marching ants" effect of their placement until just now. I'd like to redo this painting after I finish the course. I love the reference photo and have always been partial to desertscapes that have the red rock against a vivid blue sky.