Painting light on a red building....
This is a painting I did this morning in Spruce Head. It’s one of the places I like to visit now and then to see what grabs my attention. I was planning on painting a view of the water, but I kept looking at this building and wanted to give this a try. I was drawn to the challenge of painting different reds. Part of that challenge is making it clear that the fuel tank in front of the building is a faded red, almost a pink. I also would have to deal with creating a sense of light on the walls of this red building. This is always a challenge. I usually rely on color temperature differences to create this illusion of sunlight, but a red building has so much warmth in it, that I have to do a subtle temperature change and rely more on tonal differences. I like to keep the warmth of the local color, even in the shadows of the building so I tend to just darken up the red a bit, and use some deep sienna colors to create a rich warm shadow. Then getting the light side is always hard. I want to make a strong contrast between light and shadow, but I have to restrain myself and just lighten up the red a bit and add a bit of yellow to give it some glow. If I go too light the red just turns pink. Capturing the light is always harder on a red building. On a white building I can really exaggerate the contrast of light and dark and create alot of drama. With a red subject I have to rely on the strength and drama of the color itself and how it will relate to its neighbors. Reds tend to attract enough attention on their own that I try to sit back and figure out how to create a more subtle sense of light.
I’ve also been playing around with paint application and really piling the paint on occasionally. Parts of this painting are still thin, but other parts are piled on thick. I’ve been looking at some other painter’s work this winter and have been reminded of how much thicker my paint application was when I was in college. Two of these painters are Glenn Dean and Joaquin Sorolla. You can find some of their work online and get an idea of their paintings, but seeing them in person is what really won me over. The lusciousness of their paint has made me think much more about what I want my paintings to be. It makes me remember what made me first love oil painting; thick, juicy, decisive, delectable, irresistable, powerful pieces of paint. Hopefully it’ll help me bring my paintings more towards that goal.
Posted on Friday April 10, 2009 | 9 Comments
9 Responses to “Painting light on a red building.”
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Hi Colin, Thanks for posting that. I have a barn in Kamloops that I’ve been wanting to paint but hesitant for just those reasons. Have you ever seen the Hipsanic musem in Harlem? There are some amazing Sorolla paintings there, Huge ones!
Hey Colin Sweet painting and Glenn Dean’s paintings at the Addison were very hard to look away from.
Colin, Great painting. Liked reading your thoughts about reds; lightening them can be a challenge.
You accomplished what you set out to do with the colours and values of the red building. And you also accomplished using thick juicy paint. A success.
Way to go!
You did a good job on the red in light and shadow. That is always real tough to pull off.
It is a real subtle value change that you used there and it works real well. Good post.
You definitely succeeded. I can see the rust on the oil tank, and the age of the red (now pink) paint is clear. I love how you take an industrial strength (rather than natural) scene and make it beautiful. Awesome work!
It’s a double treat to see your work and read your narratives.
Nice way of showing the large boulder size rocks in the foreground.
Handling reds, made lighter, is a real challenge. It’s hard not to have them look like lox or worse, Pepto-Bismal!
You skillfully skirted both pitfalls.
I really like how you portray industrial tanks ( as you did those silver ones in your book ) as landscape items to be admired.
Amazing work Colin, as always.
Beautiful work Colin! I often struggle with the red problem – I like the way you mastered it!
Such a host of luscious reds, particularly the bright spots of red orange on the sunlit side of the building. The grays in the rocks beautifully set off the building and the water.