Steve Fleming

Artist Studio

Steve Fleming

In The Studio: Painting 42 of 90 Paintings in 90 Days, “Back Cove”

The Artist In The Studio

In this light filled dockside painting I tried to keep the white shapes to really work against the shadows and bright colors.  Before you begin a painting that has a need for interesting shadows make sure that you understand the direction of the light and then it is my thought that you should try to make them an interesting and creative part of the painting.  Don’t just make them a little thin dark line at the roof do something to make them a real part of your painting.

Run a wash of cerulean and cobalt blue for the sky and water, leave some light in both, with a wash of new gamboge and cobalt blue paint in the distant land mass.

Paint the foreground rocks and weed shapes using bright pieces of burnt sienna, new gamboge, olive green and ultramarine blue and let the colors merge on the paper.  Leave some angular whites for the impression of rocks.

With a knife scrape a few marks indicating weed stems and with a flat scraper lift off the highlights on the rocks.  Using the side of a round brush charged with new gamboge and ultramarine blue paint the trees behind the building, leave some lights peeking through.  Mix a light cool gray color using ultramarine blue, burnt sienna and cobalt violet for the shadow, like the color before you use it, don’t just mix a flat murky gray and slap it on the building really make a color that is interesting.  Then brush a little raw sienna at the top of the shadow and let it bleed into the shadow.  Let it be.

Paint in the dock and boat, try to mix a better gray than I did, oops, I wasn’t thinking.  It is a mix of cobalt blue, burnt sienna, and cobalt violet, get some drybush and keep it really simple.  Paint in some details for windows and doors.  Put in a few tree marks and weeds in the front and start another painting.

15 x 22 arches rough, “Back Cove”

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