In two earlier posts I wrote about how I created two versions of the Key West Boat painting, one done with brushes and the second one, with palette knives. I had another collector who loved the palette knife version of the painting. Because the collector who originally commissioned the painting selected the palette knife Version 2, I painted Version 3 in palette knives for the second collector. There may be a Version 4 with a rosy sunset sky for another collector but that will have to wait until I finish another commission project first, one of a flower scene. I need a break from the boats, anyway, so I can come back recharged.
I start with a drawing on the tinted panel. Whoops! Forgot to take a picture before I started to apply the paint. Oh well. The darkest values in the painting are mixed from Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red Medium. More Ultra makes it darker.
The roof of the shed is primarily Cadmium Red Medium tinted with Ultramarine Blue and touch of Cadmium Yellow Light. A little bit of Titanium White is added to the Cad. Red/Ultra Blue mix to make the gray areas on the boats and the fish netting. A rusty red is added to bottom of the boats and reflections on the water.
I mix Cerulean Blue and Titanium White for the brighter sides of the boats. The rooftops are a warm peach mixed with white to contrast with the cool blues. I did go back near the end with a touch of blue/red mix to tone the roofs down just a bit.
The ski is mixed from various combinations of Cerulean Blue and Cadmium Red Medium and Titanium White with a smidgen of Cadmium Yellow Light to create the clouds with a hint of greenish-grey stormy weather. I paint in some of the color in the sky and pop some in the water at the same time. I add in the reflections of the masts on the water. Sometimes I paint the sky and clouds across the masts and then go back and pull the masts back out in front.
I also paint in some of the warm peachy color into the clouds that are catching a bit of the late afternoon sun. I know this is not the
greatest photo(below). Sometimes when I am working late into the night, the
light (or lack thereof) screws up my photograph. There is a reason I am
a painter and not a photographer!
One of the last steps is to scratch into the paint with a rubber tipped implement the rigging on the boats. I also go over some of the rigging with paint applied using the palette knife. I use the negative space (the sky) to make some of the ropes and rigging narrow again if they came out too fat.
And the final painting! "Key West Boats, Version 3", oil on panel, 18" x 24", Code #032317 S 18x24, c. 2017 by Charlene Marsh. SOLD
Compare Version 3(above) to Version 2 HERE, also painted with palette knives. Which do you like best? And why?
This painting would be great to activate the area of the living space that represents one's Path in Life or Career. Boats represent a journey and, along with the blue colors and the squiggly, free form lines, hanging this painting in the front center area of a room, home, or work space will help to create an auspicious environment for a change in one's career, a promotion, a better job, or to achieve one's goals. Boats can also represent a spiritual journey and new possibilities going forward. Feelings of being happy, content, having fun, and good memories are often associated with boats.
Thanks for following along!
Happy Trails!
Charlene
This is one of my very favorite, plein air, snow oil paintings painted late in the afternoon with the sky starting to turn a peachy sunset color. I wanted to work this up into a larger, 24" x 36", painting.
"Twilight in the Forest, February 16, 2014, plein air oil on panel, 12" x 16", c. Charlene Marsh.
So I started with a sketch on a magenta tinted panel.
I mixed up a dark value for the creek water using Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red Medium. I also mixed up an orange with the Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow Light and then added generous helpings of Ultra Blue.
The same mix of Ultra Blue and Cad. Red, heavy on the Cadmium Red, is used for the treeline on the horizon of the hills. Cerulean Blue and Titanium White, with a touch of Cadmium Red and/or Yellow is mixed for the shadows in the snow. I wanted to keep this palette on the warmer, Cerulean side of blue. I often slide over towards periwinkle and blue-red-violet for the shadows to keep the golden highlights from shifting to green. But for this painting I wanted to keep it in the cyan blue range and use peaches for the highlights.
I often set up the palette for a painting based on a foundation of complementary colors that also make a nice range of ethereal neutrals. Some highlights using the peachy colors are used on the top of the hills. Cooler hilltops use various blues mixed with white.
I continue painting the snow on the hills. The sky color is mixed with two complementary colors. First, Cerulean Blue and Titanium White are mixed for the sky color at the top. A second color is mixed from Cadmium Yellow Light and Cadmium Red Medium and/or Primary Red-Magenta to get a sunny, peachy orange. Generous amounts of White are added to this sunny color and used along the horizon line.
The two colors, blue and peach, are mixed to get the magical, middle color in the sky.
Once the surface is covered, I start adding the trees. The major, big trees are painted in first with my palette knives from a deep brown mixed from Cad. Red, Ultra Blue, and a bit of Cad. Yellow. I use a rubber tipped implement to add twisting and twirling branches and limbs throughout the entire painting. I continue adding trees and branches with the palette knives.
I
also added the delicate, light, salmon colored ash leaves that cling
onto the branches throughout the winter. I work the entire surface,
back and forth from foreground to background, and then back to the
foreground pulling the foremost trees out. I will even go back into the
sky to push back certain areas and pull others forward. Golden orange highlights are added to the foreground of the creek.
And here is the final painting:
"Twilight in the Forest", oil on panel, 24" x 36", Code #031717 S 24x36, c. 2017 by Charlene Marsh.
Thanks for following along!
Happy Trails!
Cheers,
Charlene
This blog is Part 2 that features the execution of a gorgeous fall painting in the studio. You can see Part 1 HERE where I write about and show the process and influences leading up to the start of this studio painting.
I do an initial sketch with a brush dipped in oil, picking up a little magenta and cerulean pigment.
I start by fleshing in the darkest dark values mixed with Cadmium Red Medium and Ultramarine Blue. For the blackest black, I use more Ultra Blue.
I start "carving" in the hills and woods mixed from cadmium red, primary red-magenta, cadmium yellow, and a smaller amount of ultramarine blue and/or cerulean blue.
For the burnt golds in the creek and hillside, I first mix a red-violet from magenta and cerulean or ultra blues. Then I mix cadmium yellow light with cadmium red light(orange) and/or magenta to get a mostly yellow-orange. Then I mix a third color with the mostly yellow-orange, pulling in some of the violet. I use the burnt gold in the creek and again in the treeline.
Then white is mixed with some of the violet, with a touch of the yellow-orange, to make a lighter value for the distant space. I often use complementary color systems in a painting, all of which are mixed from the basic primary colors. I have a very simple palette with two blues, three reds, one yellow, and Titanium White.
The greens in this painting were mixed with Cadmium Yellow Light and Cerulean Blue with a touch of red or orange to give it the tinge of autumn and cut the brightness of the "summer green". This makes a nice moss green color on the rocks.
A dark green/rust is popped into the sky area for the canopy of the forest. A luscious turquoise for the creek is mixed with Cerulean Blue, a touch of Cadmium Yellow Light and Titanium White. I may also add some Cadmium Red Medium for the parts of the creek with rocks just under the surface of the water.
The sky color is mixed from Cerulean Blue and Titanium White. I use the lightest value at the horizon line and make it slightly darker with more Cerulean toward the top of the painting.
The light sky color is popped into the creek which is reflecting the sky. The burnt orange leaves and tree branches are added to the reflections in the creek.
Tree trunks are mixed from Cadmium Red Medium and Ultramarine Blue (leaning more towards the red) and the major trees are added. The trees really start to define the depth of the space.
In a very loose, organic
way, using a rubber tipped implement, I dash in branches, thin tree
trunks, and reflections across the entire surface.
Smaller trees are added as well as branches and limbs using the palette knife.
I started adding green and yellow-green leaves on the left side of the painting.
More leaves are added across the entire painting. The leaves are mixed to gradate from green to yellow-green to orange-yellow-green to orange and yellow. The leaves tumble down onto the surface of the creek.
Some of the tree trunks and branches are pulled back out in front of the leaves adding to the dimensional qualities of the painting. The distance space is tweaked and highlights added to the water.
A few final bright yellows are added in the areas in the foreground and some spots of sky are added back in.
And the final painting:
"Fall Forest Fantasy", Code # 030917 S 24x36, oil on panel, c. 2017, by Charlene Marsh
This painting captures the extraordinary beauty and peace of the deep forest on an autumn day and would be excellent to enhance the Wealth & Abundance energy of the living space as well as the Core Health & Family Relationships and Spiritual Growth energies.
Here's the link to Part 1 again so you can see the genesis of how the painting evolved.
Thanks for following along!
Cheers,
Charlene
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I am going to break this blog into two parts. The first part will cover the seven, plein air, oil paintings that were created on location in the forest over a period of five years and used for inspiration for the finished studio painting. The second part will focus on the step by step evolution of the studio painting.
In this plein air painting created this past fall on November 1, 2016, http://charlenemarsh.blogspot.com/2016/12/110116-12x16-warm-day-late-fall.html, I particularly love the background hills and trees and colors as well as the sky reflected on the creek and the fallen leaves on the water. I frequently referred to this painting while working on the background elements and the creek.
In this plein air painting, dated October 22, 2016, http://charlenemarsh.blogspot.com/2016/11/102216-12x16-early-autumn.html, I really liked the creek in the left hand side of the painting. That golden color, rusty reflections, and smattering of fallen leaves was really enchanting.
The turquoise creek, due to the shale rock, was absolutely gorgeous in this painting. This plein air painting was done on October 24, 2016, http://charlenemarsh.blogspot.com/2016/11/102416-16x12-turquoise-water.html.
This is another plein air painting, dated November 1, 2013 with the turquoise water which is flowing this time. Interestingly, this painting was done on the same date as the top one above only three years earlier. I love to compare the unfolding of the seasons from year to year.
In this painting dated November 3, 2013, I really like how the color of the leaves changes from green to yellow green to orange-green to oranges and rusts. These last three paintings are done in one of my favorite spots to paint out in the forest. I love the composition of the creek receding into the distance. Last year, several trees fell across the creek in this location, obliterating the view.
This painting dated October 12, 2012 shows the beginnings of the fall colors but is still predominately green.
Just two days later on October 14, 2012, the colors have already changed dramatically. Some years, fall comes early and some years, like in 2016, it comes quite late. We did not even get a frost or freeze until mid-November. I love how the paintings document the unfolding seasons year after year.
So I print out photos of all these paintings and mount them on my "inspiration board" that I could refer to as I worked. Here is my set up, ready to go.
This is the end of Part 1. Sometimes setting up the painting and deciding what to do is the biggest part of a project. Part 2 is available HERE that shows how the painting is executed now that I have determined what I want to do.
Thanks for following along!
Happy Trails!
Cheers,
Charlene
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