Henry Thoreau said that a lot of our life is wasted away with details. Instead
we should simplify simplify simplify, and if Thoreau was a painter he would be
certainly right about that as well. Because simplicity is what makes a
painting strong and attractive. Simplicity of shape design and
composition of light and dark shapes, warm and cool color. In this
demonstration I'm going to show you how to take a relatively simple landscape
scene and transform it into simple shapes of light and dark and warm and cool color.
Following a path of simplicity in your painting doesn't make a painting look
simple. It makes it open to you to express yourself through the colors you
choose and the arrangement of the shapes. But come down to it, it has been
simplified into shapes of light and dark and warm and cool color. So come along with
me as I lead you through this quick painting to reinforce that idea. So lets
dive in. Here's the basic reference and I'm going to be focusing on the dark
bushes and then the plains of light in the foreground and behind them to give
the painting some strong light dark contrast. So starting with the dark
mass shapes. Just get that composition in. The horizon line in. And now block them
in with some darker color. Use ultramarine maybe a bit of burnt sienna
mixed into it to get your dark block in shape. Then the shadow pattern is also very
important. It's got a bit of alizarin crimson into that ultramarine blue.
Scrubbing it all in with a bristle brush. Nothing fancy. Very basic palette of
colors. The distant hill has got to be pushed
back with some cooler desaturated color. And now just blocking in the
distant field. Getting in the paths of light between the dark. Getting in that
second layer of dark there with some ultramarine and a little bit of orange.
Makes a lovely dark. Not bringing any white paint into the shadows and darks so
Keep that in mind. Simplifying the hill in the background
with light and dark. You can see a pattern developing as I put down these
shapes. And very descriptive already of the scene. Carrying on with the second
layer. These bushes are going to be sort of the focal area but also creating a
nice counterpoint for the light around them. Using a big brush here. Number eight
bristle brush on a small 10 by 12 panel. So you can see how the big brush helps
to simplify shapes once again. No fiddly little brush marks, just just big shapes.
Putting them down here with some really thick paint. Just basically lemon yellow,
bit of white.
Now a bit of orange and yellow to highlight the side of the bushes where
the light is hitting them. So some form of side light is always very handy to
help define shapes and also to throw really nice dark shadows.
So shadow pattern in the foreground and light in between that and the bushes and
then light behind the bushes again leading into the distant hill. Now you'll
notice I'm using thick paint in the foreground and that is intentional. I
want thick juicy paint. Good saturated color in the foreground to come forward.
And in the distant areas that paint will be thinner and not as saturated. At this
stage I'm experimenting with shapes and color. Just getting it down nice and
thick. Laying it over existing layers so working wet into wet.
Provided you are careful with laying down paint and then lifting your brush
off. Wipe your brush clean again, get some more paint on then layer it on again.
You're not going to be mixing into layers underneath and creating mud. So
you can see how the white strip in the distance does go into the distance
because white cools down a color and of course aerial perspective makes colors
appear cooler. So all I'm doing is working into the shadows there with some
blues. Shadow is naturally going to have some blue color in it and I'm just
accentuating that a bit more. Just softening up and cooling down the edges.
These foreground shapes I'm being, I suppose you could say, inspired by the
reference. And looking for expressive color. Good thick distinct shapes. So I'm
noticing some warm sort of pinkish earth tones in the distant hill. Put those in
quickly. Working all areas of the painting. I work in the background then I
will take a break, develop the foreground then the focal area and so
on. I don't try and complete one area at a time. so pretty much getting a good
development of this painting. and I'm not trying to get into real details. I'm
really looking at where I can get a lot dark contrast doing all the work for me.
Notice the strong diagonal in the hill in the back?
That helps to add a bit of energy to what would otherwise be very horizontal
looking painting. Suggestion of foliage and bushes in the background but
I've go to break them down again otherwise they come forward too much. Now getting
the little brush in just for a few suggestions of grass etc. But a few too
many so I go over them with some dark color. Make sure my shadow pattern and
darks are still in place. Always look out for that.
Just refining a few of these foreground shapes so it's not too - I would say
hard-edged. Couple of dark accents make a difference as well. It's not always just
about adding highlights. Dark accents are very effective - I just need to get
those darks in a little stronger here and there.
So you can see a pretty simple scene but giving me a lot of leeway for expressive
color and a lot of simple shapes. A few final touch of the real thick juicy
paint just to consolidate this foreground a little more and there we
have it. Quite a fun little painting to do
using a simplicity of shape, light and dark and warm and cool color. Just sign this
off and we'll have a look at the completed painting.
I hope you enjoyed that demonstration and if you found it useful or found
anything interesting with it and want to take that further go onto my website and
look at the painting courses and you'll find something that is going to help you.
Maybe Learn to Paint With Impact or How to Loosen Up Your Painting or even an
art coaching course with me. I will teach these concepts in those as well. As
always if you could like and subscribe to this channel I would greatly
appreciate it and I'll see you soon in the next video.