Toning a canvas

I've mentioned in previous posts that I sometimes work with toned canvas. I especially like a toned canvas when painting en plein air, as the bright light of the sun can make a bright white canvas hard on the eyes. I've worked with both a neutral gray toned panel and a tan toned panel. Since I am more attracted to warm colors, the golden tan tone appeals to me a little more. From what I've read the Impressionist Claude Monet also liked working with what he called a "blonde" canvas.  It gives a nice under layer to both skies and ground alike.

I like to tone my canvas in advance so that the toning doesn't muddy up my paint layers when I start painting. To do this I will use a raw sienna oil paint and apply it very thinly to the canvas by "scrubbing" it in with an old brush. With this method, a little goes a long way, because I want to keep the raw sienna transparent. I don't apply it in an opaque layer as that would make the canvas too dark and the canvas would likely not dry to the touch overnight. 

Alternately if I am too impatient to do the scrub in method, I will do a wash of raw sienna thinned with solvent.  You can really play around with the wash and add a dab of white to the mix if you find the raw sienna to be too dark. It is really personal preference. The point is to keep it thin so that it can dry overnight and be ready for painting the next day.

I've also painted on canvas toned on the spot when I haven't had the foresight to tone them the night before. But again, it can muddy your colors unless you apply the paint strokes a little more thickly and leave them be once you've laid them down.

Plein air tip: If you've done any plein air painting you will probably have noticed that you have to clean your palette more often so that you have space to mix your paint. As a result, you can have scrapings that turn to mud due to all of your color mixtures combined with white. Before you wipe off that ugly mud, think twice! Save your mud in a mud pile on the side of your palette and you can use it to tone your canvases later. 

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Landscape Values- Part III

Here are some things to consider when working with values in a landscape. Sometimes when observing the play of light it can be hard to decipher subtle value differences. These are  not hard and fast rules, but hints that may be helpful in creating the illusion of light and shadow. First, I'll start with a simple illustration:

1. The sky is the source of light, so it is usually the lightest area of the painting.
2. The flat plane of the ground is usually the 2^nd lightest value in the landscape, because it is the earth element most exposed to the light source (except when in cast shadows.)
3. Slanting planes (like the slopes of mountains) are typically the 3^rd lightest value. They still get a lot of light, but they are more upright than the flat earth planes.  Mountain values can have undulating cast shadows as well. They are still fairly light in value however. They are also cool in color temperature, due to normally viewing them from greater distances.
4. Cast shadows on a flat earth plane will be the 4^th lightest value. Shadows generally appear cooler and lower in value than lighted areas, but be wary of painting shadows too darkly (a common problem when painting from photographs.) Cast shadows in nature will still have light and color in them because in most cases they are reflecting the light from the sky.  Also note: Overcast days when the light is generally cooler and more diffused tend to have shadows that appear warmer and more diffused. Sunny days when the light is warmer tend to have shadows that appear cooler.
5. Upright structures, such as tree trunks and certain trees like cypresses will generally show some of the darkest values because there is less surface area for the light to hit. Be aware though that most trees will still have some slanting planes in the foliage on the side where the sun shines. There may also be darker values than the upright ones occurring on the undersides of your trees and bushes. 
6. Values can get tricky once you start working with color, so it can sometimes help to squint your eyes in order to check your values. Making quick thumbnail value drawings is extremely helpful as well, as a preliminary to your painting. These “hints� are especially helpful when working from photographs. Note that there are always exceptions (like rising and setting suns), so use your observing eye! Nature often has her own ideas. When working from Nature, be open to exceptions, but also be prepared to use your “hints� if you find it helps you to make a more convincing painting!  

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Landscape Values- Part II

If I want to take it a step further than the small sketch, I can lay out a value sketch on my canvas, using a mix of alizarin crimson/ultramarine blue thinned with paint thinner. This is done very thinly. I use a rag to rub off most of the paint and just give me my drawing with the values as a stain to the canvas. Alternately you could use burnt sienna for the value sketch, but I don't typically use a lot of earth tones on my palette.  Here's the canvas value sketch I've done as the first stage of my painting:

I won't always do this detailed a drawing to begin, but since this scene is more complicated than my straight landscapes I thought it might be a good idea. When painting en plein air, it is a good idea to sketch out your composition and suggest some values perhaps, but the light changes so quickly that I wouldn't do this much detail at the beginning stage unless I could return to the same spot at the same time of day on subsequent days.

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Landscape Values

My mom was here visiting with me recently and I asked her about a watercolor class she had signed up for not long ago. "It wasn't so hot," she said. "We didn't learn much of anything. The teacher just kept saying 'remember your values'. We didn't know what we were doing, and we didn't know what 'values' she was talking about!"  

I had to laugh. Family values? Stock values maybe? I guess it's understandable that someone who has been involved in art and painting for a while would assume that everyone knows what "values" are in painting. But not everyone has that clear understanding, so I thought I'd write some of what I know about values here and in a subsequent post or two. (Mom, if you're reading, take notes. Pop quiz later!)

Values in painting are essentially the range of lights and darks in a composition. Seeing values in black and white is somewhat easier than seeing values in color, so a lot of times it is beneficial to create a value sketch of your subject first if you are having trouble discerning how light or dark something should be.

The trouble with values in color is that you now have color temperature thrown into the mix and judging values can be somewhat more confusing, especially when painting en plein air.  What's lighter, the sky or the ground? The rooftops or the side of that bright yellow building?  Understanding a little bit about how the light plays across a landscape can help to create a more convincing scene. 

That is why creating value studies before you jump into painting can be very helpful. Here is a very quick value study I did of a Lake Como scene I am getting ready to paint. I don't always do this, but for more complicated scenes it can be helpful:

This little study will help me to internalize my lights and darks so that I can "remember my values" when I start my work with color.

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A Day in the Orcia Valley

I thought I'd celebrate my new blog home (on my own domain! Yeah!) by posting a painting I just finished this morning. I took a break from painting the waters of Lake Como to do another painting of the Orcia Valley (otherwise known as the Val d'Orcia.)  This painting measures 30x40". It is done on a gallery wrapped canvas, painted out to the edges on all sides:

On this particular day I tortured my husband by making him drive all over the Val d'Orcia (or so it seemed) before lunchtime to find views of the white roads lined with cypress trees. I had a thing for these winding roads and cypresses, which I think make marvelous compositional elements in my landscape paintings.

More paintings of Italy can be seen on my website here.

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