June 10, 2008

(189) Summer Light
My focus for this painting was to simplify by painting flat color masses instead of drawing in the shapes. Macpherson suggests using as few colors as possible, preferably one for the sky, one for the trees, etc; all the while
imagining each mass as it would appear if cut out of construction paper. I used a canvas panel that had been toned red so I allowed some of that to peak through for contrast, and stayed loose with the brush strokes. I think the leaves are a little more broken up than they should have been (not flat enough), but perhaps next time...I enjoyed this exercise more than I thought I would.
"To finish a work within the limited time frame outdoors, I am compelled to abstract the forms and organize the value and color patterns, which pushes me to clarify what I'm trying to say in each painting"...Ann Templeton

2 comments:

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Hmm I lost my comment here.
Anyway, I like this block in. I should do some of the lessons from that book. It's very good.

FCP said...

Yes, you would have enjoy working through both of Kevin's books: Filling Your Paintings with Light and Color and the newer one: Landscape Painting, Inside and Out. And, I have a new appreciation for his Pond book after doing the little studies of the same scene different hours of the day. It is all challenging but fun!