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Author: Johannes_Vloothuis, Contributing Editor
| 39. When painting we can only rely on a few values. In nature there are many more values because of the intensity of sunlight that can never be imitated under studio conditions. Three ways to create the illusion of sunlit areas is by contrasting those areas with exaggerated darks. I.e. It will be necessary to darken the cloud shadows more than they would appear in nature to create the effect of the sun peeking through the clouds. Or the cast shadow over grass will have to be much darker in your painting than in nature to make the sunlit areas appear bathed in sunlight. |
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| Fig. 64. When applying color visualize they way they would look on a gray scale. These values are enough for landscape painting. The differences of the in-between values are so subtle that it wouldn’t make much difference. There are actually 10 values on the value scale but it is a very hard task to paint in color and match all those values. |
| If any of you would like to add another brick to this tutorial, please email me.There could be a rule or tip that I have overlooked. |
| 40. On a last note, it has been said that nature is the best teacher. This is true for textures and forms. When it comes to color and distance however, sometimes nature fails to come up with a good lesson. For example, trees can be very round or triangular in shape. When copied from nature will result look amateurish. Many colors in nature are quite monotonous such as foliage and rocks being the same color. Some trees grow the same height. Nature has several big advantages over us. The sunlight will give us a much wider value range than a gallery light. Nature's paintings are huge and three-dimensional. We have to give an appealing equivalent on a flat small surface. In conclusion we should take from nature what looks good and improve what doesn't. I believe talent is not essential to be a good artist. Hard work is. My definition of talent is the following. Talent is the ability to spot what looks right or wrong in a painting. Knowledge is knowing out to correct what doesn't look right. |
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| B i o g r a p h y | |
| Johannes has been a professional painter and teacher for 10 years. He studied fine arts in Canada and Mexico. His paintings have been exhibited in several countries such as Brazil, Italy, Russia, and Mexico. He obtained first place in Mexico for the yearly National Watercolor Award in Mexico (year 2000), and an honorary award in 1999. He has been the critique master for wetcanvas and has helped hundreds of aspiring artists improve their art work. His passion is landscape painting. His students believe that composition is his strongest point. Oils and watercolor are his preferred media. | |
| E-Mail: jvloot@mail.internet.com.mx Web Site: http:// | |
