how to get oil paint to "glow"

[acadianartist]

Trond, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I don't do so well with colour. I am fine with values, and can produce a very accurate charcoal sketch, but when colour goes on, it all starts to fall apart. Yet I've done the colour wheel countless times (I started a BFA 20some years ago, then subsequently took classes and workshops), read books on colour, but for some reason, it's not clicking. I can't seem to judge both value and colour. But this is something I have to overcome if I'm going to continue to paint. Oh sure I guess I could say that I just don't have talent, but why would I do that ? We artists are suckers for punishment.

Plog: I'm going to try that! I have a painting drying now that has a lot of white in it. Too much. It's gone chalky again. My plan is to let it dry completely, then apply a glaze or two and go over it with some transparent blues and yellows. See what happens.

becca and ocre: yes, pure colours (I am guilty of making mud). And I know paintings glow more on a screen but still, some are able to create more of an illusion of light than others (ie, me).

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions! I will continue to read them and try new things! As Marc Delassio likes to tell his students: "Only idiots learn from their mistakes. I learn from the mistakes of others." (Otto von Bismark).

Chantal

[0chre]

I think you could get more glow in your work by observing the temperature of your colors more.

For instance, in your painting "Ruisseau et ombres sur neige", the shadows in the the snow are quite cool, but the shadows of the trees aren't nearly as cool. They are in fact quite warm, as are the shadows in the stream. The lights in the snow are somewhat warm, but because the background is quite intense of color and really warm in temperature, the lights in the snow seem a bit bland and not so warm.

To get a more glowing painting, you could subdue the background (painting it in warm-ish grays), cool down the shadows of the trees and the stream (make them as cool as the shadows in the snow). If you then make the lights in the snow an intense, warm color, I think the whole will glow a lot more.

[acadianartist]

Thanks for the specific example Ochre. And I know that foreground should be warm and background should be cool, but sometimes, that's just now how nature works. Here's an example of a plein air piece of birches with a lot of backlit yellow leaves which I chose to blur. The birches are actually cool, and the background warm. Not saying it works, just raising it as an example of this phenomenon which I find hard to ignore.

[DECiNERGY]

ACADIANARTIST Who is Marc?? Have i something or someone overlooked ... ?!? ;-)
I don't find any link for his landscapes.

[!becca]

Chantal...not necessarily only pure color..but when you put the paint down..let it be..to often we are tempted to go back and disturb it.

[acadianartist]

Yes, I hear you Becca. I am definitely guilty of that.

Decinergy: http://www.marcdalessio.com/

He has lots of useful videos at the end and I really like his plein air work. Even when painting dreary gray achitecture, he manages to keep his colours fresh and suggests the architecture rather than using meticulous detail.

But as far as someone using vivid colours effectively, it's hard to beat Gordon Harrison, dubbed the 8th member of the group of 7: http://www.gordonharrisongallery.com/

Chantal

[DECiNERGY]

YES, Mark Dalessio is a madness, SuperB! - So I'm trying to work ... but with a little more thickly/pastos (and bigger canvases)!
His details or better non/little details is what i like, also his 'blurry'...
The colors are really wonderful and his videos I liked very much - especially "Making Media" (producing nearly as mine;-))

[Newb]

Originally Posted by acadianartist

Decinergy: http://www.marcdalessio.com/

I went to his blog and after looking at the 3rd painting I was like WOW, these are really good, only to see they were done by Claude Monet. Doh! (They need a smiley slapping his forehead)

I noticed in your picture of you in your studio your glasses seemed tinted. Are they transition lenses that change with light intensity? Could this be throwing you off just a little? or should I say just enough.

[acadianartist]

Hi Newb,

Yes, you have to scroll down to see Marc's work. Though I love what he says at the top about how it might be an amazing experience to see dolphins jumping at sunset, but under no circumstances should one attempt to paint dolphins jumping at sunset

Indeed, in that particular photo I was wearing prescription sunglasses. No, they aren't the transition kind, and normally I do not paint with my sunglasses on. I forgot to take them off that time and only realized it when I saw myself in the photo. This does point to some problems, however: when painting outdoors, the bright sun is often an obstacle. You can either look into it, or have your back to it (thus placing it smack on your canvas). Shade is not always possible and though I have an umbrella, it isn't always possible to use it (high wind, etc.). Bright sun has played tricks on me before.

But there is another problem related to this which I've identified and am trying to address. I had really good quality light bulbs put in my indoor studio so that when I do paint indoors, I have the best light possible. But then when I take my paintings out of the studio and hang them on the average wall of an average-lit room, they appear dull. The lights are playing tricks on me, making the colours in my paintings stand out more than under normal house lights. So - you guessed it - I switched all my bulbs back to normal bulbs. Let's hope that helps. I am also bringing my paintings out of the studio regularly to look at them under different light before calling them finished.

Sorry, were you expecting a yes/no answer?
Chantal

[0chre]

Foregrounds don't have to be warm and backgrounds cool, necessarily. I meant that the background in the snow painting was (to my eye) too intense, stealing the thunder of the lights in the snow (which are very important for the "glow factor" in that particular painting).

If you're a plein air landscape painter, you should paint (more or less) what you see, I think. So, indeed, you couldn't ignore the coolness of the birches against the warm background. Reversing that would be silly.

But you don't have to let "reality" dictate what you should paint exactly (you could just make a photograph, then). You decide what the focus will be. You decide which colors you'll subdue and which you'll enhance. Which you'll make warmer or cooler than they are in real life. Because you don't have the range of values and colors nature has, you'll have to create the illusion that you do, by intelligently making use of contrasts.

In the example of the birches, I would probably put the focus on the warm glowing background and I think you've done that as well. But the effect is lost a bit, because of the sky color (which isn't bright enough to my eye) and because you blended the background into the sky, making the color of the trees too cool. And the blue accents in the birches are pretty intense of color, rivalling the background for attention.

[acadianartist]

Hi Ochre, thanks for that lucid clarification.

I agree, I went over the top a bit with the blue accents in the birches. As I said, if I thought I had it all figured out, I wouldn't be here asking questions! So you would have kept the sky lighter in that painting? Interesting. I think I tend to make my skies too dark.

As for the snow painting, yes I hear you. I just love that glowing red that twigs can have in the right light during winter. But you're absolutely right, that area is competing with the foreground and I need to decide what my paintings are about rather than trying to paint everything.

[DECiNERGY]

ABOUT "GLOW": did you actually get a (correct) answer?!? - I think not (really);-) - Or??
I mean a satisfactory answer...which will help YOU

[acadianartist]

Thanks for asking Decinergy! And though there is never ONE right answer to these kinds of questions, I think I got several answers that will help me on my path. A lot of painting is trial and error -- at least when it comes to finding a process that works for each individual. And that's what I plan on doing! So I'm very happy I started this thread!

[tuzigoot]

Try using Ampersand's gessobords and transparent paints. It will glow like it's lit from the back.

[acadianartist]

Hi Linda, I already use gessoboard, but I find it difficult to use a lot of transparent paint. Going to try to keep my colours cleaner though, and maybe keep some passages transparent.