Let Your Light Shine

Category: oils (Page 1 of 2)

Getting Motivated with Micro-Moves

Sometime last fall I tried to compose a painting by creating an abstract value pattern to paint some wildflowers. I did a value sketch and a little study in watercolor so I thought I was well prepared for an oil painting. It just never came together. I kept going far beyond the time when I should have thrown in the painting rag. I left that painting on the easel . I took me a while to realize that its ugliness was keeping me me from starting a new painting.

I was doing very little art work and that’s never a good thing for my spirit. In order to keep an art practice going during the winter I started to draw a face each day. Some days I found a famous face online. Some days I copied pictures of family.

I focused on value and shape without really caring as much about likeness. I just wanted to improve my ability to see and reproduce accurately. It was relaxing because there were no expectations. In my reading about creativity I’ve come across the idea of doing just one small thing. Some people call it micro-moves. What’s the smallest action you can take to get moving on something you need or want to do? Sketching faces was my micro-move.

Here is a sampling of the work. Names have not been included to protect privacy and to add plausible deniability if the person or their family member doesn’t think I’ve captured the likeness. So let’s just say these are studies of faces.

The micro-moves had done their work. They kept me active and eventually inspired me to get back into painting. I found the girl in the straw hat particularly interesting, so I decided I needed to paint her portrait in oils. I liked the shadows caused by the hat. I also found her features very pleasing.

Underpainting

I started with an underpainting and intended to build up layers by glazing. I did that with the blue shadows and some yellow, but I kind of lost my way so I went to more direct painting.

First glaze

As usually happens, I start to lose some of the information that was included in the underpainting. You can see changes in the shape of the eyes as I added highlights. I spent small amounts of time over a number of days getting more specific with shape and color.

I’m in the middle of another painting, but here’s a glimpse. This little girl has tormented me for years. She’s a cutie but I can never quite capture what makes her the delightful little creature that she is. Here’s my latest attempt from a picture that’s several years old. Maybe this time…

Shinrin-yoku

So what is shinrin yoku? It’s a Japanese term that means forest bathing. No, not skinny dipping in the woods. It’s taking time to immerse all of your sense into nature. That’s forest bathing. A gentle breeze on your skin, the scent of the plants, shafts of sunlight and birdsong. Ah! Your being is so full of natural goodness that there’s no room for stress.

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When I visited Japan, I had a very urban experience: visiting schools, companies like Mitzubishi and Sony, riding the trains, and staying in cities. I can see why a nature experience would be so refreshing to people who live there.

Researchers are documenting the positive effects nature can have on our health. Studies point to both psychological and physiological effects on our immune, cardio vascular, and respiratory systems.That’s what I enjoy about plein air painting – a full immersion into the natural world. Peace. Absorption. Chores and cares are gone. There’s just the plants and the paint.

Painting at Sycamore Park in Pickerington, Ohio

When you look at one of my paintings I want to give you a little piece of the experience. Calm, serenity, a sense of place. The warmth of the sun and the scent of wild flowers. The texture of foliage. Enjoy!

Before and After

 

 

Before

After

I’ve been playing around with a method for improving paintings. My mind is analytical which has some benefits and drawbacks as an artist.  Since there is little I can do to change it, I might as well go with it.

After I complete a first draft of a painting I put it on my mantle for a few days.  When I’m ready to finish it, I invest time in systematic reflection.  I want to have a punch list of changes before I touch paint or brushes.  If I don’t, I’ll just waste time mucking around without significant improvement.

I use a notebook. First, I note glaring problems like the shepherd’s crook that needs cleaned up and the birds that aren’t noticeable.  I take into account Rich Clem’s advice from our Central Ohio Plein Air group critique -“Get rid of the tree on the right.  It doesn’t help the composition.”  I want to see if he’s right, so I cover it up.  Yes, I think he is!  I still want to keep the stump for the bird but I can lose a lot of that tree in shadows and/or foliage.

Then I look for a strong center of interest.  When I planned the composition I placed the larger feeder 1/3 of the way down from the top and 1/3 of the way over from the right to be in the sweet spot.  It seems to work, but could be strengthened with some subtle tweaks to the background.

The next thing I want to consider is the color scheme.  I was painting from nature but I can control how I represent it.  This painting uses all of the greens and all of the reds on the color wheel for a complementary color scheme.  That’s why the yellow-orange on the smaller feeder looks out of place.  I can switch it to red-orange.

Then I work my way through the principles of design:  unity, contrast, dominance, repetition (with variation), alternation, balance, harmony and gradation.

Dominance jumps out as a problem.  The original painting is about half green.  I don’t really have a dominant value either.  Even though I did a gray-scale sketch before-hand, I work backwards and do a thumbnail to see where I stand.  If I skinny up the tree on the left, I increase the green and the middle values.  That also has the advantage of overlapping the small feeder with green foliage instead of framing it within the rectangle of the tree.  

Alternation might also be a problem.  I could do a better job of connecting the darks.Then I run through the elements of design (line, value, color texture, shape, size, movement) to see if I get any new insights. Just where do the lines lead?  I can play with that in the foliage and blossoms.  Then I’m ready to work my way through the list to the new and improved painting below.

 

Reworked Painting

Please leave a comment about my self-critique.  What did I miss?  Do you have a similar process?  I’m keeping the notebook so that I can go back and look for patterns.  If you have a process for self-critique I’d love to see it.

 

 

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