Painting Grand Vistas

Vista

12 x 18 soft pastel on Kitty Wallis Professional White

by Miki Willa

I was reading Rose's Artlines yesterday, and she posed a question about what kinds of art a person likes and why. I have been pondering that question for a while in an effort to narrow my focus for my paintings. I think I will start with subjects.

One of the subjects I really like is the grand vista. I like the idea of the majestic landscape, but not in an over romanticized way. I also really like pastoral scenes, with or without buildings. Old barns, rivers, wetlands, rock formations, and mountains always draw me in. I also really like still lifes, if they are filled with odd and interesting things.

I guess the reason I am starting with subjects is because I am thinking of working on a series. Katherine at Making a Mark has been writing about series paintings. Some time back, MC Johnson wrote about painting in a series. Yesterday, I read Elizabeth Mowry's Landscape Meditations: an artist's guide to exploring themes in landscape painting. All of this has made me think about what I would like to get from painting a series.

1. I would explore a subject in depth and make it a part of me.

2. I would hone my skills in certain areas that need work.

3. I could explore various techniques while staying true to style and subject.

Now I just have to decide what I want to use as my primary subject.

Today's painting is from just outside West Glacier in Montana. We stayed one night at a very overpriced, not really pleasant motel before we started our camping trip in Glacier National Park. The only thing this place had going for it was the view. I used an orange underpainting for the trees in different values of orange. I was really pleased with the way the underpainting turned out, so I very carefully followed the values when I added the greens and violets. I also worked hard getting the values the way I wanted for the receding mountains. Once again, I was going for good aerial perspective.

Values in the landscape - learning to see again

Ever since spending a week learning from Richard McKinley, Tom and I have been looking for values in every scene before us. On the way out of Bend, we stopped at Smith Rocks again to do some value work. The photo above is of one of the beautiful rock formations. Even though I know that the camera lies about values, you can see some of the darks in the shadows and crevasses. Such a beautiful place. Keeping in mind the value challenges of the camera, I have selected a few representational photos of what we have been seeing, drawing, and discussing on the way to St. Cloud, Minnesota (our present stopping place).

This is a view from the west side of Logan Pass from the Going To The Sun Highway. We were stopped for road construction, so took some photos. Notice how the values go from the dark shadow in the foreground to a middle value on the nearest ridge, finally to a cool light value on the distant ridge. This is a pretty good photo showing the warmer tones closer and the cooler tones in the distance. This is something I have to work on. I tend to use too much warmth in the distance at times.

This was taken from a trail in the Many Glaciers area of Glacier NP, I think. Once again, look at the warm darker values in the foreground and the cooler lighter values in the distance. One of the things I am working on is to make sure the darker values in the distance, like in the shadows, are not as dark as the darks in the foreground. I also need to make sure I don't do major value jumps in any one area. Sometimes in the studio, I relied too much on the photographic image. Since I am learning to see again in real life, I am seeing that photo images cannot be relied upon completely. Value sketches are much more reliable.

This is not about value. I just had to throw it in because it was so cool seeing these beautiful animals so close. This herd of bighorn sheep was in the meadows at Logan Pass. They were very close to the boardwalk feeding on alpine lilies.

This photo is a perfect example of how a photo can lie. This is the Painted Hills area of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. It was taken on an overcast day. Notice that the values read the same from front to back. It was not that way in reality. It was also much more colorful than the photo shows. The hills were brilliant pinks, calming ochres, and many shades of browns and lavenders.

This last photo was taken from the car, at 72 mph. It is a field of sun flowers along I 94 in North Dakota. I kept wanting to get a good photo, but the people who plan these roads simply do not have artists and photographers in mind at all. Don't you think they should build in pull-outs for plein air painters in spots like this? So far, we think Montana wins the prize for artists pull-outs. Or course, they are cleverly disguised as scenic overlooks or chain removal spots.

Today, we head further east. We will still be looking at values. In a couple of days, we may even be able to stop and paint again, if the weather holds out. Forecast is for rain and thunderstorms to the east. I will post again on Friday when we get to Boston.

Simultaneous Contrast

A Rose by Any Other Name

7 x 7 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

Believe it or not, the rose is the same in both pictures. In the first one, I took the photo before I put in the light background. Before I took the second photo, I put on a light background because I thought it would work better. I am just amazed at the difference. The photos were taken under the same conditions. The colors of the rose appear totally different, but I can assure you I didn't touch the rose, only the background. The green in the leaves is even different.

Richard McKinley wrote a column here about why this happens. It is called Simultaneous contrast. It is the notion that every color, or value, will respond differently depending on what it is next to. While I have been exploring light values in my paintings, I can see how this works in creating shadows while still using lights. A darker light next to white becomes very dark if there are no other darks around. I am going to have to work to apply that to my landscapes where I do distant mountains or meadows.

In the pink

Pua nani

7 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

Plumeria blossoms come in a variety of colors. Most of them are cream with pale yellow highlights. They also come in pinks with orange and red centers. They have a very strong and sweet fragrance, and are a favorite for making lei. I thought these would be good for my light value work. Today, I really missed not having white in my collection of pastels. There are some edges I wanted more pure white, but I had to make due with my palest cream. Maybe I will break down and get a stick of white for special occasions.

Monstera

Monstera

7 x 10 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

The real flower is larger than the painting. We have these giant leaved plants that grow around tree trunks in the forests here. They are Monstera plants. I have seen them for years, but I had never seen a blossom. A couple of months ago, when I was on the Big Island, I was getting ready to go into Big Island Candies when I spotted this flower in the parking lot. The plant was growing up a light pole and this nearly two feet high blossom was sticking off to one side. When I was looking for something to paint during my study in light values, I came across my photo. My challenge was to turn form on the center part while keeping it as light as it needed to be, without using white. The photo just barely shows it. It works better on the real painting.

Value and Hue

White Hibiscus

7 x 10 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

There is so much to learn, and remember, about color as it applies to painting. I spent a little time doing some research today and discovered some new things, and refreshed my understanding on things I already knew. Here are just a few interesting tidbits from my journey.

Yellow is the first color the eye recognizes. This is important to remember in a painting. Using bright yellow away from the focal area can draw the eye away. Using it in a pattern that leads toward the focal area will bring the eye there. Judicious use is important because yellow is also the most fatiguing color in the spectrum. Statistics show that couples fight more in a yellow kitchen. Check this out at http://www.colormatters.com/optics.html.

Value was at the top of my research list today. As I see it, value has to do with the darkness or lightness of a hue (color). Value defines form and creates spacial illusion in paintings. If values are close, shapes will seem to flatten out and seem closely connected in space. None will stand out from the others. Value is very important in creating aerial perspective.

Tomorrow, I will look more at hue and simultaneous contrast. For more on value and hue, check out http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Hagan/color_psychology2.htm and http://pastel-pointers.pasteljournal.com/default,month,2007-08.aspx.

The painting was done without using white. My goal was to create a white flower using light value pastels that would indicate white.