diferent colours of Grass

[animal]

As i want to start painting landscapea for my wldlife in acrylics, I was wondeeing what types of grass color there are(what colours should I use)

[paintfool]

Animal, you don't ask any simple questions do you I like to use many colors in grass. Depending, of course, on the scene & lighting situations you're likley to find greens mixed with golds, oranges, reds...gosh just about anything. If you want an overall tone you may want to consider doing an underpainting with a color such as red or orange. Lay different strokes of color over it. I hope Larry can come to your rescue here because i'm probably far better at painting it than i am at explaining it! No pressure here Larry :
Cheryl

[paintfool]

Thank you so much Sandi for stepping in here. I'm having a very busy day & am sooo tired already that i can't think straight but i would like to see Animal get some satifactory answers. Maybe someone can suggest some books?
Cheryl

[animal]

Thanks, Paintfool and Sandi. I really want to get practicing my paintings so this will help alot

[LDianeJohnson]

Hi animal,
Good job Sandi. Grass is a "toughie". It is like asking how to paint hair on a person's head. The layering or building method is a good one to learn how to do grass. But before using "methods"...look at, feel, and smell the grass you are trying to paint. There are several types of grasses around the U.S./World. Some short, light green, fine; others, tall, dark, strong in appearance, and visa-versa. After doing your observation...

Then depending on the type of paint you are using (oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, etc.) approach your grass painting. With more opaque materials start dark to light...lay-in your rich, dark, darks of blackish/bluish greens or dark red-greens, or even dark-yellow greens, then build up from there. Think dark/light values, then cool/warm colors, then the lightest values in those cool/warm colors.

If a blade or mass of grass is facing the sun, it is generally warm. Watch the direction/time of day of the sun. Is it early morning (cool, moist sun) or late afternoon (warm, dry sun) , etc. Then, watch the side of the grass facing away from the sun. That side will reflect the sky color. If it is a blue-sky day, it will reflect the blue sky. If it is a gray day, it will reflect the gray.

Squint, and look at, then away, then at the grass again to really compare color, light cool/warm. It is all comparing.

Then...shew...there's much to painting grass but yet it is simple; are you trying to paint every blade of grass or is the grass a part of the larger landscape? If up-close look for the detail. If part of the landscape look at the masses of color/shapes the grass is making. That's what you paint. And practice, practice, practice.

I remember being in high-school with the teacher trying to paint grass since there was nothing else outside to paint. What a challenge. But now I know grass is part of the landscape, not generally the focal point unless you have a small subject with grass surrounding the subject.

Sorry to run on...just happened to be in here this evening

[animal]

Thanks Artistry,
I really want to get out and paint so any information will help.

[LarrySeiler]

The bottom line is...a painting is prioritized, and all artistic elements and devices are established to manipulate the viewer's eye.

Two methods are used by wildlife artists, one puts all the focus on the main subject, for example...the wolf. Purest colors, darkest darks...lightest lights, greatest details etc., are reserved in this case for the wolf. Everything else is downplayed intentionally such that the eye is not to be distracted by anything. In this case...no attention would be given the grass that would compete with the attention wanting to be given to the subject, ie- wolf.

The artist would "suggest" detail by using light, values, color, texture...

Remember that harmony of all the parts come from having the similar/same light from the atmosphere. So, the artist squints the eyes to see the minimum color, lighting, and detail necessary to say "grass"....

The Second method is to paint every single detail of every single object within the paiting. Carl Brenders is a fine example of this.

The problem with this method is, it can't be done outside live from life. There simply is not enough time. Therefore a good many and reliable sources such as photographs are necessary. This will be a studio painting. Grasses may even be brought into the studio, a clump...and set on a pedestal to study under lighting circumstances similar to the painting. Understand about 200-300 hours of painting time will go into this. Any prints you see of this style are a bit misleading, taken from an original that is 2-3 times larger. The detail appears to increase and compact when it is reduced from the original to the print.

You no longer are a painter of light and illusion, you must become an expert of the anatomy of grass. Remember, high detail to be convincing requires becoming an expert.

If you put high detail in your grasses, of course you must put even more detail in your subject or the eye will find your subject less interesting. Detail must maintain a consistency throughout...and requires years of discipline, study, etc;

It may best be learned by first attending to vignettes, which are illustrations with basically white backgrounds. Perhaps a dozen grasses framing a red-winged blackbird perched on a broken cattail, for example.

Larry

[animal]

Larry,
Thaks for explaining it to me, I think I understand now. I will start practicing soon .

[paintfool]

what a great bunch of responses! I know that i have learned something from each one. The best thing about these forums is that no matter who asks the question & no matter what the question is, i know that i will take some information from it for my personal development.
Cheryl

[4vincent]

Animal,

Check out Sargent's "Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife" and see how he did the grass; maybe that will help. I always like that painting. Ken

[bk7251]

Gertrude Stein wrote, "Pigeons on the Grass. Alas!"

Abandon all preconceived notions of what you think grass looks like, i.e. that it's green. DON'T try to make it look like grass. Try squinting so hard that what you see becomes a blur. Then try to notice what the blur looks like without placing labels on what you see. It's a way of seeing innocently. I find it helps a lot.

------------------
Barry Katz

[Kevin M]

Where I live the grass is green, and I mean really green (40 shades, they tell me). I usually get really green with a mixture of pthalo green and cadmium yellow.
You will see what I mean here:- wildlife park

http://homepage.eircom.net/~bot/cheetahs.jpg

[This message has been edited by Kevin M (edited November 23, 2000).]

[bruin70]

animal ,,,,it is only important that the grass appear green. this varies greatly depending on your color theme. for instance,,,if your painting were freakishly red, then straight green would be garrish. you would need a brownish(red+green) green.

unless there is a reason to be exact,,,,,remember this...that most of the time it's better to paint what you think it should be than what it is. because most viewers will agree with you rather than mother nature.....{M}



------------------
"it's alright to be judgmental,,,,,,,,if you have taste"...MILT