Steve Fleming

Artist Studio

Steve Fleming

In The Studio: Just Paint 57 “Farm Buildings I Have Known 1”

The Artist In The Studio

Today I am going to start a four day look at the same subject painting with a compositional change in each painting.  I will be changing the point of view in each one.  This will give you an idea of what the possibilities are using the same shapes.  I hope you get a lot out of it.  I am working on having really nice pieces of white paper working as the movement in the painting and I am keeping the white paper as clean as possible creating a really stark but easy to follow design.  Try it with white paper and then use a tint of the shapes replacing the white.  This will really change the finished painting.

Use cobalt blue and cerulean blue for the sky leaving some white paper for the appearance of clouds, immediately paint the trees into the damp sky using yellow with a blue wash on top.

Using really energetic brushwork, paint the foreground leaving the white paper, try to think of the edges along the white paper and pull the weeds and color across the white.  This will slow the visual movement through the painting.

Paint in the shadows using a varied mixture of raw sienna, cobalt violet, cobalt blue and cadmium scarlet.  Really play with the colors in order to stay away from a really flat shadow color.

Paint in some dark accents in the weeds with a rigger or scripts liner and with a round brush put in dark accents for window, doors, and under the eaves.

3 Comments on “In The Studio: Just Paint 57 “Farm Buildings I Have Known 1””

  1. For several weeks now I have been following and enjoying your series of quick watercolor studies, especially the four farm paintings. And the scenes along the Maine coast. Could you possibly post the photos of the scenes you use as inspiration? Maybe in a photo gallery on your website. On the other hand, I do understand that it’s important not to be a slave to photos (but I do use them as compositional tools and to save detail info.) Thanks for making your blog available, as I do enjoy your enthusiasm for painting! bob.c

    • Bob thanks for your comments, I actually very rarely work from photographs, unless a specific subject, horse, farm or boat is so specific, that I need the image for assistance. When I do use them I really try to establish me in the equation as the biggest part and the photo as just support. Now with oils I find myself relying on the photo more and I think that is the nature or the medium which allows for a much greater level of finish. I think each painter has to establish their own comfort level and if photographs are really important then by all means use them. Most people do.

  2. Steve, thanks for your answer on using photos. The farm series and the Maine coast group too, have an immediacy to them, like standing right there in the field and enjoying the view. Love it! bob.c

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