Home Forums Explore Media Pastels Soft Pastel Learning Center ESP–September 2004–FOREGROUNDS

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  • #448154
    Deborah Secor
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        I thought for our next ESP we’d work on a basic part of the landscape: the foreground!

        A lot of my students tell me they have trouble with foregrounds—even saying some slightly nasty things! So over the years I’ve analyzed what it is that works, and what doesn’t work in the fore.

        Nothing distracts more than a weak, disruptive composition that allows the eye to meander around, fixing on nothing and going nowhere. Instead, a strong foreground will lead clearly and succinctly to the focus of the painting, with enough detail to enhance that subject. A weak foreground can destroy the effectiveness of a painting that is otherwise successful. No matter how strong or visually delightful the center of interest might be, if attractive elements in the ground plane lead the eye away from it, the painting becomes disjointed and uninteresting. If, on the other hand, the ground plane is a bland sea of useless, rambling details, or is so devoid of information as to be visually boring, this area simply fails to do its job.

        The fore is often the place where distractions occur. Because the greatest color, contrast and detail reside at your feet, it is necessary to walk a fine line between enough and too much if your center of interest does not reside there. Excessive details can overburden the senses, heightened darks and lights may attract unwanted attention and strong color might appeal to the eye when it is not meant to be the center of interest. The solution is to take into consideration this key area and arrange the various components in the fore to direct the viewer’s eye, moving it quickly or slowing it momentarily, or perhaps allowing it to rest briefly in an area of quiet calm before moving on. The rhythm and syncopation of this movement is important and allows you to vary the tempo, pace and direction the eye moves.

        Think about how you can use the fore to guide the viewer’s attention to the focal point (it may not be just a point but a grouping of things) and keep it comfortably centered there. Allow your viewer to arrive at the focal area, providing a visual pathway of some sort. This might be as simple as a trail of light that leads the eye through the foreground or it could be as obvious as a paved highway with a yellow stripe curving across the land, pointing like an arrow to the center of interest.

        It is sometimes tempting to minimize any foreground, cropping the image so that the offending or difficult part is simply cut out. This can often leave the subject sitting directly on the ‘windowsill’ of the painting with no room to travel visually to the subject. While cropping might seem like a simple solution, it actually contains some pitfalls of its own, since the need for excellent composition is often then increased. Instead of cutting out the offending portion, consider utilizing the space to strengthen the painting. The abrupt quality of the painting that is merely a subject and background, with no intervening sense of space, can be somewhat confusing. While this composition may be effective and interesting when done excellently, by a master like Albert Handell for instance, it is not a solution you can rely on for every painting.

        Far more often you want to use shapes to give mood and movement to the work, making the foreground a vitally important and motivating part of the composition, an appealing and lively portion that does not distract. Compose with two key ideas in mind: create depth and keep the movement operative.

        There are many different elements you can include in the foreground plane to create distance and movement. Consider including a vertical element such as a tree or bush, telephone pole or fence to enhance the illusion of distance. When a vertical object protrudes into the more distant planes above, it functions much like a puzzle piece, locking the composition together in relation to the foreground:


        Tony Allain


        Doug Dawson

        A streak of light and the shadow it casts can draw the eye and change the direction it moves:


        Deborah Paris

        Overlapping grasses and bushes, large and small, can make a soft transition:


        Richard McDaniel

        Strongly contrasting colors or values, such as a patch of snow or brightly colored flowers, can entice the viewer:


        (mine–if there’s no name below it, it’s my painting…)


        Edna Beauchemin

        A change in plane where the ground rises or falls away can move the eye swiftly or slowly in another direction:


        Ann Templeton

        Lost and found edges become important in pointing the eye, making a soft or abrupt shift.

        Remember that strong verticals create upward or downward movement and horizontals move the eye side to side, while angles can provide transitions between them. The place where these directional elements intersect can be critical. Pay close attention to the X or Y where they meet and be sure to maintain the movement in the proper direction.

        Be sure to use patterning. Look for the repeated overlapping colors and characteristic shapes found on the ground, such as low-growing grasses, small bushes, flowers, weeds and dirt. Rather than laboring to paint every little detail of grass and leaf use repeated patterns that are somewhat larger in the immediate fore and become progressively smaller.

        In the distance these strokes, laid down like tweed cloth with dashes of characteristic color, create a simple texture with muted color that explains enough without saying too much. Oftentimes patterning is the key to solving foreground dilemmas simply because it creates an illusion or suggestion of detail without becoming disruptive.

        Patterning:


        Richard McKinley

        Keep in mind that the slight graying or bluing of aerial perspective is needed to add to the illusion of depth. The colors in the immediate foreground will be the most saturated, yet there will be times when you must mute them slightly so that they do not compete too much with your focal point.

        Aerial perspective:


        Maggie Price

        Conversely, injecting strong color into the foreground can enhance perspective. Remember that as colors recede from the eye there is a color shift, as increasing layers of air filter out first yellow and then red. This means that as you look out over a large field those grasses at your feet will have all of the combinations of red, yellow and blue in them, as well as holding the strongest contrasts of dark and light. As the grasses recede into the mid-distance they will first become somewhat less yellow, leaving mixtures of red and blue, resulting in a lavender hue. If the field is large enough, red will slowly be filtered out in the great distance, leaving a pale blueness to the grasses that are farthest away.
        In fact, at its simplest the landscape could be expressed according to the rules of aerial perspective as the yellow of the foreground, the lavender of the mountains and the blue of the sky. This formula actually works quite well to express minimally the land and sky.

        Here are the broad generalizations about foregrounds. Break them up using:

        1. rocks


        Deborah Paris

        2. a fence line


        Wayne Pritchard

        3. a vertical bush or tree


        Albert Handell

        4. overlapping grasses and bushes

        5. a change in plane


        Brad Faegre

        6. shadows

        7. a streak of light


        Desmond O’Hagan

        8. contrasting colors or values


        Edna Beauchemin

        9. a reflection in a puddle


        Desmond O’Hagan

        10. patches of snow


        Albert Handell

        11. a road or pathway


        Brad Faegre

        12. a river or stream

        13. Other interesting shapes or colors


        Nancy MacDonald


        Kitty Wallis

        Don’t let your foreground be so empty that it looks unresolved. Suggest things, even if you don’t describe them. Don’t be unwilling to add elements to the foreground to move the eye, recomposing to strengthen the painting.

        Many thanks to all the artists whose work I’ve shown here to illustrate these principles.
        _________________________________________________

        Your assignment, should you care to accept it:
        Design a painting, or show one(s) you have already painted, that has a foreground that is 50% to 75% of the picture plane. Make sure it’s interesting and varied, and uses some of the elements suggested here, or others you devise. When you show your painting, describe what you’ve done and how it’s working.

        For example:


        California Skyline, 11×17, Wallis
        This foreground is interesting to me because of the abstract qualities that move the eye around effectively. The gentle horizontals are countered with the stronger angles in the immediate fore, which give movement and interest to that area. The dark triangles in the bottom corner and the accompanying light yellow patches suggest trees and fields, while the orange and green middle ground are energetic in color, giving depth to the piece, but not far different in value so that they allow the eye to move up to the saw tooth tree shapes. The soothing blues suggest water and distant hills.

        This painting was done from a memory or impression of my years growing up in the California Bay Area.


        River Way, 11×17, La Carte
        In this painting I think the foreground works quite well because the shape of the pathway moves the eye to the foot of the tree, which is a strong vertical and the darkest dark in the painting. The dark and medium grasses are suggested with a few colors and strokes. The snatches of light on the path also direct the eye, while keeping the immediate foreground from being too boring, and the large yellow swath behind the tree is simple enough to suggest the ground and shadow but not distractingly strong in color or contrast.

        _________________________________________________

        Okay, hope you have some fun trying out different foregrounds! I look forward to seeing your work! If you have any questions or want to discuss any points about this ESP, I’m anxious to hear from you.

        Deborah

        Deborah

        "All glory to Him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
        Landscape Painting in Pastels (free online book)
        Gouache Blog

        #491342
        Meisie
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            Oh my! I haven’t even done the landscape from the last ESP! :crying: Oh I hope I have the chance to try it here. The examples are magnificent!

            Thank you!

            Can you ‘sticky’ this thread too? ;)

            Meisie

            Charne
            Website & Blog - Reflections
            Prints

            #491311
            Deborah Secor
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                Thanks, Meisie, I’m glad you like this one. :cool: I figured since most of the folks here are visual , a lot of paintings would be fun!

                The other ESPs will be in the Pastel Library, although the last one may stay around for a bit so others can complete it–but it won’t close anyway, so you can always do the exercises in it.

                I think Carly will sticky this one sometime soon.

                Deborah

                Deborah

                "All glory to Him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
                Landscape Painting in Pastels (free online book)
                Gouache Blog

                #491347
                Khadres
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                    I like the point you’ve illustrated so well about the foreground NOT necessarily being gritty in detail. By grit, I mean foregrounds where the artist has decided that since the foreground is closest, we MUST see the grit by grit detail whether that belongs in the composition or not. I think this is where photography can sometimes point the way in that your focus point tends to blur everything before and behind it. While a painting wouldn’t want to do THAT exactly, it does point up what’s important enough to expend tons of detail on and what’s not. I’ve caught myself doing this fairly often, especially when my left brain is exerting too much control over what I see “logically”. I gues there’s seeing and then there’s seeing, huh? :D

                    Sooz
                    __________
                    The Bay Window Gang -- Our very own Neighborhood Watch team!

                    ___________

                    "Real learning comes quietly, unannounced, without a parade." Elizabeth Mowry
                    #491312
                    Deborah Secor
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                        Yep, Sooz, that ole logical, rational part of the brain wants to make everything plain, described just the way it’s perceived when we look right at it. But the artist sees differently than the camera (thank God!), which tends to either blur all but the focal area, or over-detail everything from here to the horizon and beyond (which is much more commonly seen as a result of auto-focus cameras these days, I think).

                        It is a struggle to figure out the right amount of detail without overdoing it. I try to think of it as a combination of the way I see when I’m looking at the focal area (assuming the center of interest is elsewhere), which often puts the fore into that softer peripheral vision, and the way I see the fore when I look directly at it so it becomes clear and detailed. It is a fine line to walk and we’re all going to make different judgments about how it should be! The ‘rules’ are generalizations, the result of many a trial-and-error, but not hard and fast, don’t-ever-do-that laws!

                        Ah, the freedom of seeing like an artist, as you said! :D

                        Deborah

                        Deborah

                        "All glory to Him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
                        Landscape Painting in Pastels (free online book)
                        Gouache Blog

                        #491357
                        dragonlady
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                            Deborah, this looks great – I will really try to do this one. I have been trying to find the time for the last lesson and keep getting sidetracked. Thanks for the time you’re putting into these, although I haven’t managed to produce anything specifiaclly for the last lesson I have still read it carefully and am trying to apply it to what I am doing.

                            Joy - C&C always welcome
                            My online gallery

                            #491313
                            Deborah Secor
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                                Joy, there’s still time to do the exercises any time–but I’m glad the ideas are working in your thoughts already. I find that applying new ideas is what it’s all about whether I do the ‘homework’ or not! Just use them! :D

                                Deborah

                                Deborah

                                "All glory to Him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
                                Landscape Painting in Pastels (free online book)
                                Gouache Blog

                                #491294
                                JStarr
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                                    *grumble*grumble*grumble*whine*sigh*mutter*whinesomemore*

                                    You did this on purpose, didn’t you?

                                    Okay, okay- I’ll try.

                                    PS: I miss the frog in that one piece.

                                    #491300

                                    Deborah, great lesson, great examples, great inspiration…gotta take it in and try some of these ideas. Thank you for doing this.

                                    Mikki Petersen :wave:

                                    [FONT="Book Antiqua"]"To Begin, Begin." - Wadsworth

                                    #491293
                                    Meldy
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                                        Wow. Deborah you are definately one of my mentors. I havn’t really done many landscapes but I know that one day I will when the mood strikes. I am absorbing this wonderful information and storing it away for use later whether it be for a landscape or something else as it applies to art in general. When I have the time I will definately have to do a landscape if only to show my appreciation for the hard work you have gone thru to educate us!

                                        Member of the Oil Pastel Society
                                        http://www.oilpastelsociety.com/

                                        #491314
                                        Deborah Secor
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                                            *grumble*grumble*grumble*whine*sigh*mutter*whinesomemore*

                                            You did this on purpose, didn’t you?

                                            Okay, okay- I’ll try.

                                            PS: I miss the frog in that one piece.

                                            LOL Julie! That frog was a goner a loooong time ago!

                                            Um, yes, I did this on purpose. I decided foregrounds would make you crazy, so I’m torturing you with information. Try it…dare ya…& go ahead, whine all ya want! :wink2:

                                            Deborah

                                            Deborah

                                            "All glory to Him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
                                            Landscape Painting in Pastels (free online book)
                                            Gouache Blog

                                            #491315
                                            Deborah Secor
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                                                Thanks, Mikki and Meldy. I really hope the information will help us all think about things more. But remember, everyone, it’s in the DOING we learn the most… :wave: <----pastel covered hand waving[/COLOR] Deborah

                                                Deborah

                                                "All glory to Him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
                                                Landscape Painting in Pastels (free online book)
                                                Gouache Blog

                                                #491295
                                                JStarr
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                                                    LOL Julie! That frog was a [I]goner [/I] a loooong time ago!

                                                    Um, yes, I did this on purpose. I decided foregrounds would make you crazy, so I’m torturing you with information. Try it…dare ya…& go ahead, whine all ya want! :wink2:

                                                    Deborah

                                                    She likes me! She really, really likes me! :D

                                                    Lemme finish this tree, and then I’ll try- promise. I even promise to post it (where can I get an assumed name around here?)

                                                    #491343
                                                    prestonsega
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                                                        An excellent collection of paintings to illustrate your lessons. I truly appreciat your efforts.

                                                        #491303
                                                        Dyin
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                                                            Wow…must have taken ages to upload all those pics….what a good lesson! And I just happen to have a charcoal and yes….SOFT pastel study I did that I’m going to do larger and could use some help with. The piece will be more horizontally compressed when I re-do it larger, so the lit sky will be more of a 1/2 disc than a horizontal slash and the mountain will be a steeper angle. The foreground is supposed to be bushes on an overlook area. I don’t want to raise them on the right and hide the view of the distant valley peeking through (which will be a little lighter in value…only had the one color as I only own 7 softies now). Am wondering if I toned down the lighter leaves in the right third if it would open up more. This is from a ref in image library by CP. Anything that will help would be appreciated! And again…great lesson!

                                                            Artist webpage
                                                            See my virtual gallery!

                                                            Charter Member of Silver Chord Art Guild

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