In The Studio: Figures in the Landscape “Fall in the Valley”

Today’s painting is a pretty simple idea two figures looking out across a valley framed by an large tree.  This type of composition leaves no doubt as to what the focal point is.  The branches arch over the two figures, the green hill points down to the figures and the clouds have a direction that pushes you down to the figures also.  Keep in mind the direction of your shapes when composing your paintings.I used very bright and pure colors and left a lot of textural white shapes and pieces of paper, this gives a feeling of bright clean light which is the type of light that we see in the fall on days with little humidity.  A nice drawing establishes the composition, make sure you are comfortable with the shapes in your painting.  Nothing is worse than not spending enough time on the major shapes in your painting and then discovering your unfamiliarity with them at the moment you need to apply the paint.  Spend a little extra time in your sketch book working on a nice expressive tree and interesting symbols for the figures.Wet the paper leaving in dry in the areas of the clouds, then using a large round brush, lay in a lively wash of cerulean blue, cobalt blue, and ultramarine blue varying the mixture every time the brush touches the paper.  Immediately run the hills with yellow green and blue, flick the water out of your brush so you can paint right back into the damp paper without a lot of bleed into the sky.Using pure hansa yellow deep, new gamboge, and thalo yellow green paint the valley floor leaving light areas to indicate the effects of light.  I also floated a wash of cerulean blue for the indication of water in the valley.  Keep your brushwork quick and flat.Paint the foreground using the same yellows and greens and paint the rocks using burnt sienna, raw sienna and cobalt violet.  Don’t forget the leave light on the top edge of the rock and make a few scrapes with a knife to indicate the weeds.  Using a number 6 script line from Silver brush company , I painted the trees with a mixture of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, and olive green.  Know the tree before you paint it this is not the time to put in a cluster of broccoli or a witches broom.  Lightly pat out some of the value with a paper towel and scrape a few light off of the tree trunks in the direction of the light.Using a small number 6 round I painted the figures leaving out all details and merging the colors from head to toe.  I also indicated some simple leave patterns using a mixture of green from new gamboge and ultramarine blue with some cad scarlet and orange.  I tried to keep this painting to under 30 minutes and really use a direct and expressive style.  Try to paint something everyday and keep working on your brush work and color application.  I hope to have a new painting tomorrow.  Don’t forget to sign up on this blog for updates and thank you for visiting.