Studies on colours

To test out what I read in Hawthorne's book, I made these paintings from my room of what's outside the window. I wanted to really focus on seeing colours so I didn't do a drawing first, and just work my way down starting with the sky. Since I only focused on the colours I was being very liberal with the accuracy of drawing and changed many things around.

The view towards east, early afternoon - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

The view towards east, rainy night - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

I felt like I could begin to understand at least partially many points Hawthorne made in the book. About how when the colour spots are true itself and true in relationship to each other, the drawing will end up taking care of itself. I also felt that I was able to get a sense of light in the paintings, that could snap me back to the day I painted them. There is a specificity to the light painted, because I tried to stay very true to the colours that I saw.

Normally I wouldn't have done this view, because to me the design was not strong enough. However in Hawthorne's book I remembered him saying to his students to not design their paintings too much and just make sure that the colours speak the truth about the light, the moment.
This was probably my fastest plein air yet for its size. I was able to finish it in less than 2 hours. Though it wouldn't have helped if I worked slower because I lost the sun light completely as I was done.

Chevron refinery - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

This one I didn't push the colours very much.

Alley way on Granville Island - oil on panel - 12" x 9"

Night painting at New Brighton

- oil on panel - 9" x 12"

- oil on panel - 6" x 8"

Aureliano de Beruete y Moret

Aureliano de Beruete y Moret
Spanish painter 1845-1912

Seeing colours

I picked up the book "Hawthorne on painting" from the library. I have always wondered at the about how the colorists were able to see all the colours, and thought maybe the book would tell me how. Well I just finished it, and it doesn't say anything about it. It talks about seeing with your eyes on things as though it's the first time you are looking at it, and that it takes time to learn to see. It talks about carefully studying the relationship between one colour spot to another, and that if your colours are true, the likeness will come with it. The likeness Hawthorne talks about in the book is in a very broad sense. It includes the likeness of a person, the likeness of an object, and even the likeness of the time of day and the feelings, all attribute to the trueness of the colour spots and how they are next to each other. These are all very fascinating ideas, and allowed me to see things in a different way.
I also stumbled upon a few paintings with great use of colours.

Eric Merrell

Daniel Pinkham

Mark Kerckhoff

New Brighton park and a couple mountain paintings

I started this painting about 10 minutes before the sun went down, just enough time to record the colours. The rest was all painted from memory, as it all happened so fast I didn't even have time to take a picture. This was painted a couple days before the super moon. Apparently the super moon would be 14% bigger than the typical full moon and brighter.

Almost super moon - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

Normally I would have chosen a smaller size to capture such a fleeting light, but I only had a 9" x 12" left. You can see from the strokes how fast I had to work to get all the information down. After I came home I added the details such as the street lights, the path and the figure.

When the crows go home - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

This is one of those paintings when I extensively reworked the entire painting. I actually liked the paintings as it was when I finished it outside. A couple days later I decided to brighten the sky. I sat down, and worked on the sky, and felt the distant trees need to be more blue and hazy, then I brightened the highlights on the houses, then the saplings, the the grass... I am glad to say that I am happy with this new version, considering that I was already happy with the older version.

Maple saplings near sunset - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

The clouds were moving so fast going in and out of the mountains. I had to paint them from memory, and invent the foreground ones.

Cloudy view from up high - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

I have always wanted to paint a mountain when I get close to it, but could never find a location to do that. Finally I had enough and did this. I cropped in on a small section of the distant mountains and found this composition. It was so far away that when I used my hands to form a view finder, with my arms fully extended, it's only about a stamp size.

A world away - oil on panel - 6" x 8"

Driftwood and logs

I love logs. They have so much character and so many colours.

Large pile of wood - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

They form nice shapes and are great design elements.

Logs and hill arrangement in the rain - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

Logs and hill arrangement in the sun  - oil on panel - 12" x 16"

Frank Duveneck 1848 - 1919

Frank Duveneck made equally impressive work in both portraiture/figure as well as landscape. His handling was bold, textural and explosive, and surprisingly contemporary looking even today! Here are a few of my favourites:

Horizon at Gloucester - 1905

Red Sail in the Harbor at Venice - 1884

Rocky Coast Scene

Tuscan Hills - 1900