Demo: Oil Painting - Studio Painting Based on a Plein Air Sketch

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Laying in Local Color.

Until now, I used no white. I wanted to have a transparent underpainting that would allow a "glow," such as you get with transparent watercolor. At this step, where I begin to build up the local color of the rocks and grasses, I started using opaque paint so I would have an additional form of contrast, opaque v. transparent. (Contrasts give a painting impact.) White turns paint opaque quite nicely. I used a good deal of white in the shadows.

Refinements.

I continued to refine my darkest darks as I laid in the shadow color of the rocks. I worked the darks back and forth with the shadow colors to achieve a more realistic look. Without this "weaving" process, the darks would look like they'd been pasted onto the lighter areas. I also wanted to make the foremost rocks look closer than the ones just a little farther off, so I began playing with warm and cool shadow colors. Look at the reds I've used -- they are much warmer close by, and cooler as you step back toward the lookout deck in the distance.

Nearly Done.

After painting in the water, the distant land mass and the sky, I added my lightest lights. One of my aims was to have a dynamic movement from the dark mass in the bottom left, up the diagonals cracks, and to the deck. This all works quite well, but after letting the painting sit on my "viewing mantle" overnight and spending some time with the painting, I decided the diagonal cracks were too prominent. I wanted a diagonal, but not one with such strength. Also, I decided the rock faces were too flat. I wanted them rounder. On the next page, you'll see these all corrected. (I discuss my "viewing mantle" in my blog.)

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