Personal paintings

 There's not much to today's post. We each started a perspective painting that has some meaning to us, so each one is different. We started with doing some small  studies - about 4 or 5 inches - to play with possible compositions. We looked at things we could eliminate, move, or add to improve the composition.

These should only take a few minutes each, just to get an idea of different ways to compose the painting.

Here are some of the questions you can ask yourself before painting (These came from a lesson by Kiko Tanabe):

1. What is the main focus of this picture?

2. How do I feel about this place or scene? How do I want others to feel about it?

3. What color scheme will convey what I want to say?

4. What can I eliminate? add? to make a better composition?

5. Where do I want my hard edges? my soft and lost edges?

If you are drawing this yourself, first establish your horizon line and vanishing points. Then block in your main elements in very simple shapes - you will define the shapes better later, but for now, make sure you have enough space for the important elements.

One idea is to start the painting with washes of color and add textures, such as Saran wrap, salt, etc. before you even draw the scene. When it is dry, sketch the scene over the color wash. Then paint in the darks.

Here is one I've started.

Here is how I answered those questions noted above:

1. I think the main focus of this scene is all the arches and shadows. But my main focus 

is probably the well.

2. This is San Jose Mission in San Antonio, Texas. Even tho in reality the sky is very blue, I felt very hot there  when we visited. When we toured it, I was reminded of all the native labor and suffering that went into building it so many years ago. 

3. I want a warm color scheme to emphasize the heat of this part of the country.

4. I eliminated a lot of little details and people that were in the photo. Also some of the textures in the buildings. 

5. I want the arches emphasized with hard edges. Softer edges on the far left where the chapel is more distant. Softer edges for the bushes and shrubbery. I want the shadows to be even stronger than they are in the photo.

This has only gone through the first two stages: making a wash on the paper, drawing the mission, and painting in the darks and shadows.

Can't wait to see what each person paints!

Two Point Perspective

 2 Point Perspective

One point perspective makes you feel you are looking down a tunnel. Many city scapes are painted with one point because the tall buildings naturally create that effect.

Two point perspective has you standing at a distance, where you can see two walls of the buildings at angles. 

You still have ONE horizon or eye level, but you have TWO vanishing points, one on the left and one on the right. These points are often off the page. 

Here is a short video to explain how to draw in 2-point perspective:

5 minute video on making a house

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZbTBgUSn7o

The project for today was to start with this simple 2-point perspective house, and make changes in it to give it character. You could make the walls wood, stone, brick, or siding. You could add  windows, doors, a porch, people, or objects in the yard. (some people chose things like a tractor,, swing set, porch, person with a wheel barrow, flower pots, etc.) 

The point was to use your knowledge of perspective to accurately add something to the picture, so it looks believable, not awkward.

For mine, I chose to add an apple tree and two people picking apples.

Here is the basic drawing:

I made a pattern out of corrugated cardboard to imprint the metal roof ridges.

You can either paint directly on to the cardboard for a "stamp" effect, or you can paint the roof the colors you want, then impress the cardboard into the wet paint. 

(To create the pattern, I cut out the roof from my sketch, turned it upside down on the cardboard, and traced it. You have to make sure that the ANGLE of the ridges match up with the direction of your roof)

I did the sky first, wet into wet, and added some distant trees while the sky was still wet.

For the gray barnwodd siding, I used French ultramarine and burnt sienna, then used the cardboard in the wet paint to get the impression of barn wood.

Here I did the side of the house, the apple tree.

I started to fill in some of the details of the people and tree and lawn. Also the window boxes.

I've put in the shadows of the house and window boxes, put some light in the windows, and painted the roof a darker red. Putting in the shadows makes a huge difference. 

Blog links you may be interested in:

Color mixing:

Using tube greens

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8812132386157895665/155909162782220321

Mixing greens

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8812132386157895665/4002204278875297685

Split color wheel

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8812132386157895665/5080489554816836458

Painting Brick/more 1 pt perspective

 

This lesson has three parts:

1. Different ways to paint brick

2. How to paint brick in perspective

3. Preparing to paint from your own reference

Having a strong idea of perspective:

I asked everyone to draw a brick wall with door and windows in 1 point perspective. I wanted to make certain everyone had a grasp of this before moving on to 2-point perspective. 

In all landscape/building/cityscape paintings, you start with the horizon line: your eye level. That establishes your point of view and where you put things in your artwork. Then establish your VANISHING POINT. THIS IS ALWAYS STEP 1.

Step 2: Draw lines from the vanishing point to the top of the wall and the bottom of the wall.

Make a wall (mine is on the left) that faces you. This will be a perfect rectangle.

Draw converging lines for the top of the window and door. (green dotted.)

Make perfectly vertical lines for the door and sides of windows. 

(In 1 and 2 point perspective, all lines that are vertical in reality are vertical on the page)

Cut off the end of the wall and erase the lines that go to the vanishing point.

Make dots evenly spaced on the corner vertical line. Draw (green dotted lines) from each dot to the vanishing point. This will give you some guidelines for the direction of the siding or bricks that you want to put in. The lines in the left side rectangle are completely horizontal, NOT converging, because they face you.

Practice putting in some brick. If you get the top 2 lines correct, then all you have to do is repeat the pattern down the other rows.

You need to remember 2 things: 1: brick will get smaller and smaller as it goes in the distance.

2. The brick layer in row 2 starts half way past the brick above it...BUT, since it is in perspective, the "halfway" mark is longer as it is closer to you. 

If you want a precise measurement of the halfway mark, use the X method. Put an x through the brick.

Where the x crosses is the middle of the brick. It will look more like 3/5 than 1/2.

Once you have 2 rows, just use a ruler and mark every other rows in the pattern.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO MAKE BRICK

I like to use either cold press or rough for textured surfaces. 

We started by putting down a layer of mortar color. I tried different combinations: Buff Titanium with a little burnst sienna; raw sienna and violet; raw sienna; and a blue/green gray from my palette dirt. Just make it light. Four squares to try 4 methods. Let them dry. ( Robbie tells me there are about 8000 (?) brick designs and hundreds of mortar colors, so you can't really go wrong.)

In ALL of the brick colors, I used burnt sienna, raw sienna, and a red. You can use some Paynes gray too.

The colors are mixed on the paper, not the palette.

Square one: Mortar background is buff Titanium with a little burnt sienna. The background is dried and bricks drawn in with space for mortar. Used a 1/2" flat brush to apply the brick colors and let them blend on the paper. With a paper towel, I lift some of the paint off to get a roughed up look. 

When it was dry I used WATERCOLOR PENCIL (you can use paint) to darken the bottom and one side to create a shadow on the brick. Also made a few cracks.

Number 2: I think this one was a favorite.

The mortar was raw sienna with a little violet.

WAX (like from a candle or paraffin) was used to color in the mortar between the bricks first.

Then ALL the brick was painted at once, letting the color blend on the paper. You can again lift with a paper towel. I used a dark paint and small brush to create the shadows. I like how you get a rough bit of texture in the crevices and mortar. 


These last two I just painted over wet on wet with brick colors, letting them blend on the paper. While wet I let some crickled Saran wrap. then let them dry. (One got more texture than the other.)

On this one I drew in some brick with a purple WC pencil first then washed it all with water to blend it all together. On the bottom part I wanted to show how you can paint the entire wall of a building, then make a few small marks in the right direction (converging) to give the effect of brick without painting every brick.

On this final one, I used all my brick colors wet into wet and Saran wrap. When it dried, I painted long lines over it and painted in the lines only for the bricks. I added some neutral tint (or you can use Paynes Gray) to darken some of the brick. 

Notes on your own reference.

1. Find something you really want to paint. (hopefully something with perspective) It can be from your travels or even a reference from a website. But it has to be something that resonates with you.

2. Write a few sentences about what attracts you to this picture. How does it make you feel? Do you have some special connection with this place/picture? 

3. What is the most important part of this picture? What do you think is the center of interest? Is there any details that can be moved or eliminated to enhance what you want to say about this picture?

Try to have something in mind by next week so we can go through individually and get ready to do your own composition.

Here are two videos that will help:

9 Min video from Paul Clark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sTRYHJBYDE

Michelle Weber gives tips on painting brick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOGy3aJZJj4

 Finishing the Bridge painting

First, I taped off the main angles of the bridge to give me some freedom to work on the water.

I put in the color of the island's reflection: quin gold and some burnt orange.

Then I worked on the water. Water will be warmer and darker closer to you, cooler, duller, and lighter toward the horizon. The waves will be closer together in the distance, disappearing all together by the island. 

I let the blue of the water cover some of the gold reflection, adding some waves in there. I removed all the tape, and painted in some oranges and golds where I want there to be some leaves on the bridge.

I spattered some Miskit over the part that will be autumn leaves on the bridge and let it dry.

Meanwhile I wet the trees and dropped in colors: quin gold, warm yellow, and quin burnt orange.

I spattered with a little clean water. Then I darkened beneath the island with burnt orange to heighten the effect of reflection in the water. 

Before painting the wood itself, we did a practice with ways to make wood grain.

We used any of those ways to paint the planks of the bridge, remembering to keep it warmer and darker at the front; cooler and lighter toward the vanishing point. The grain itself is further apart close up, and disappears toward the vanishing point on the island. 

Do the same thing with the railings and posts. On the railings, the top side should be lighter as it faces the sun and sky; the sides should be darker. 

For the last steps, I painted in the trees and sponged over a few places. I removed the miskit from the bridge and painted in some leaves. I also spattered with burnt sienna. 

For the spaces between the blanks, I taped off both sides and darkened the lines, making them faded and thinner toward the horizon line.

Ways to create wood grain

We just taped off five sections to practice with. I would recommend labeling these and keeping for reference. 

#1 Color: burnt sienna with some burnt umber. Paint wet into wet. Scratch the grain in with a credit card. Don't put your lines too evenly together. You can paint in some knot holes. Lift some whites.

#2: Color: Burnt umber and some gray, like neutral tint. Wet into wet with salt.  I will go in later and paint in some lines.

#3  Color : burnt sienna and neutral tint. Mix a puddle of burnt sienna and another puddle of burnt sienna with a some gray, like neutral tint. Paint wet into wet. Put the warmer color on the bottom and the cooler color on the top and blend together as they meet in the center. Scratch in grain or the lines between boards.

#4: Wet into DRY:  Using a grainer, small brush, or fan brush, paint in some grains. Go over the dried lines with wood color and spatter water and burnt sienna into the wet paint. 

#5 The lighter wood is made from burnt sienna with some yellow ochre or yellow with violet added to neutralize it.  Paint wet into wet.Then, while the paint is still damp, but not shiny, paint in grains with a small brush or grainer or fan brush. I generally use a small brush. If you want more distinct grain patterns, you can add more when it dries. 

(Below, on the second one, you can see where I've added some grains into the salted area)

Note on brushes:  A Grainer brush looks like someone cut it's hair with a thinning scissors, with different lengths of hair. A fan brush looks like a fan. You can use an older brush and just pinch the bristles apart to create a brush that will make a grainy look for you. On larger pieces, you can also use a fine comb to create grains wet in wet.

Establishing perspective from a reference photo

 How to find correct angles of perspective from a photo.

The first thing you always do is look for the horizon line and vanishing point. Here are some clues to look for:

(EYE LEVEL can be the level of the camera, not your eyes)

1. Find a spot where angles level off to a more horizontal line

2. Is there a person in the picture? The horizon line is possibly through that person's eye, if he is standing and is about your height.

3. Are there windows in the picture? You can guess-timate where someone's head might be in a ground floor window. If the windows are all in a row, even better!!! You can draw a line from the top of the window, then another at the bottom of the window, and find out where they converge.

4. If your view point is from an upper story window, look for any lines that would be parallel in reality, and find out where they converge.

5. What about cars or other vehicles that you can compare a person's height to? If you can see the top of the car, your eye level is above it. If not, it is below or at that level.

Here are some pictures to illustrate:

To find my eye level, I could find parallel lines, such as the windows on the buildings, the sidewalk and street edges. There is a person in a backpack, but his head is way higher than the level of other people's heads. He is either very tall or the street slopes downward a little, maybe both. But I would judge my eye level about on the x on the backpack, and the vanishing point to the left of the x.

Another one-point perspective. These are usually the easiest to find eye level and vanishing point.

You can see the tops of the windows are above my eye level; the bottoms, which slope upward to the center, are below my eye level. I could just follow the street lines until they converge. I would judge the horizon line to be just below the head of the person in the street.

Here's a perfect example of two points perspective, with vanishing lines on the left and right sides of the photo, off the page. I have some clues as to possible eye level. Look at the line through the center of the windows. They look fairly horizontal to me. To verify, I would extend the line of the base of the house to the left; then extend the angle of the roof to the left, until the two converged. That would be one vanishing point, and you can draw a horizontal line through that all the way to the right of the picture. 

Here is a bridge I frequently walk across. Just looking at the picture, one point perspective, it would seem my eye level is somewhere in the trees. Oops. Look again. The top bars of the bridge are nearly horizontal. That is my eye level. So you can tell this bridge is going uphill.

Same bridge, but looking downward. If I drew lines where the bridge floor converged, it would be about the level of the girl's knees. Plus, the top bar of the bridge is at her eye level, yet it slopes down instead of horizontal. 

The path is pretty level until it gets to the bridge. Since I walk it often, I know those posts, standing next to them, reach my face. The road takes a curve, too. My vanishing point is somewhere on the level of the posts, but to the right of the bridge. 

Several things to notice, though. One is that the road continues to narrow in the distance. And the road is darkest near the viewer and lighter in the distance.

Here is a picture with 3 perspective points, called OBLIQUE perspective. In one and 2 point perspective, all vertical lines in reality are still vertical. In this picture you have a vanishing point on the left (out of the picture), one on the right, and you also see these very tall buildings get smaller as they reach the sky. That is your third vanishing point.

This has no real linear perspective. All horizontal lines appears horizontal; all vertical lines appears vertical; there are no shapes with much volume. 

This we didn't have a chance to cover, but we will. Stairs. Always a conundrum.

There is an eye level. When looking at stairs, eye level is where you can no longer see the top of the step, only the side face. When drawing stairs, you need to establish 2 things: YOUR eye level, and the vanishing point of the stairs, which makes it a 3rd vanishing point. 

Perspective Part I: An Overview & 1 point perspective e

 WHY should I teach about perspective? I just want to paint!

Reason number 1: There are many things that I can fix after critiquing a painting. But I can't fix perspective at the end.  When I've invested so much time and energy into a beautiful painting, when I'm ready to critique, and the perspective is off, I can't fix it. So it has to be part of the planning process.Even in a "loose" style.

Reason # 2: Perspective is in nearly everything you draw or paint. It is the process by which we interpret the 3 dimensional world and project it onto 2 dimensional surfaces. This includes both man-made structures and nature.

Reason #3: The understanding of a few basic skills make you a better observer, ergo a better artist.

Reason #4: If your perspective is off, it will be the first thing viewers notice, and then can't un-see. 

There are several types of perspective: Linear (broken down into 1 point, 2 point, and oblique--several point--perspective); and aerial or atmospheric perspective. (which deals with how we see things in a distance through the air between the viewer and the object)

Linear perspective deals with what are parallel lines in reality that seem to converge as they become distant.

There are 5 ways we make things appear distant on a 2-D page.

1. An object at the top of the page appears more distant than the same object at the bottom

2. Changing the size of objects; smaller objects appear distant

3. Overlapping one object with another pushes the overlapped object toward the back

4. Converging lines such as railroad tracks that appear to come together 

5. objects are closer together

5. Using atmospheric qualities. Objects in the distance are....

    a. lighter in value

    b. bluer/grayer in tone 

    c. less vibrant; more subdued color (less "saturated")

    d. have softer edges

    e.  have little or no detail

    f. less contrast

    

Take for example an ocean view. The waves appear larger and farther apart close to the shore, and disappear entirely as they approach the horizon line. The color of the Ocean gets cooler farther away. It is usually lighter in value near the horizon line.

The goal here is NOT to make you a technically perfect architect, but to help you make your paintings more believable.

We can become too used to tracing a picture to paint, and that is fine to a point. But what if I want to add a detail, such a person or car or tree, to add more interest? I need to know how it fits into that scene.  What if I want to paint a loose scene? Great...but if your perspective is wrong, it won't turn out the way you want. And what if you want to paint en plain air?  Where do you start?

You don't have to do a million grid lines to make a believable picture, but you do need to follow some basics.

This week we are starting with simple one-point perspective. Linear perspective always starts with the horizon line. 

Please watch this short video by Stan Prokopenko, a drawing artist who does a great job of simplifying the process.

https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/one-point-perspective/comments

Make a little family of bird houses.

Here is the exercise we did to go along with that video:

Step 1: Draw a horizon (eye level) line and mark the vanishing point. Then draw squares around, on, above, and below the line. 

Step 2: Draw orthographic lines from the points of the squares to the vanishing point. (Orthographic: lines that are in reality parallel, but are converging in the distance) Observe that in some cases you see a bottom and side; sometimes only a side or a top. And in one case, only the top.

Step 3:Draw in the back lines for the boxes. They will look either vertical, horizontal, or L shaped.

No crazy angles here. Erase your orthographic lines to look like boxes. (but keep the eye level line and vanishing point)

Step 4:. Turn them into bird houses by giving them roofs. The one on the bottom left uses two more lines from the vanishing point to establish the top and bottom of the roof side. So does the one on the right, where part of the birdhouse is above eye level, and part is below eye level. 

ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE

One point perspective makes you feel like you're in a tunnel. In grade school, we learned to make a railroad track by making two lines converge to a point, and making the railway ties smaller and smaller as they disappear into the distance.

Here are some pictures from Unsplash to illustrate:

If we have a reference, we start by deconstructing it into it's Horizon Line, Vanishing Point, and orthographic lines. (these are lines that in reality are parallel, but seem to converge in our viewpoint)

Let's start with the horizon line in this simple example. It is actually your EYE LEVEL or the EYE LEVEL of the camera, and often it is on the horizon, but not always. In a reference, you can find the eye level line easily if the path converges, such as this bridge to the island. Where the lines of that path would cross is the VANISHING POINT, and also where the horizon line is.

In the picture below, if I continued the lines of the bridge, they would converge just beyond that Central tree and just beyond the little island. (If there was no island, it would probably converge on the shore line opposite) So I'm going to use that shoreline as my horizon (Eye Level) line, and the point beyond the tree as the vanishing point.

My Horizon Line and vanishing point.

I make a point at the bottom of the page where the bridge will start (left and right) and draw lines to the vanishing point. I draw dots where the ends of the planks would be and connect those to the vanishing point.

I drew in the perpendicular post on the right (in orange). Then the planks on the bottom and top right. (in purple)  When I was happy with that, I duplicated it on the left side.

Now I need to figure out how far to put the posts from each other. I start with where I think the next post should go and draw a vertical line.  I make a mark halfway up the  first post. Then I drew a line from the top of the first post, thru the middle of the second post, to the bottom board. Where that diagonal meets the bottom is the position for the next post. I keep doing that until I can no longer see the posts.

I should have drawn in the converging line that goes from the vanishing point to the middle of the first post. This establishes the middle of every single post in that line. Sorry)

Here is a 2-minute videos that explains it really well.

https://www.google.com/search?q=making+evenly+spaced+poles+in+a+perspective+drawing&rlz=1CATRIY_enUS1088&oq=making+evenly+spaced+poles+in+a+perspective+drawing&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCjIyMjc0ajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:b1d30ef8,vid:npWYLktl9Pk,st:53

No need to do the process on the other side because the posts are evenly placed. All I have to do is draw a horizontal line from one side to the other at the bottom of each post, and it will tell me where to place them. 

I could continue this, but I want to go to the island. 

I draw the end of the bridge, and erase the lines beyond that. The island is slightly below the horizon line. Just sketch in the shore line and some tree shapes. There is some water and land just beyond the island.

Transfer the important shapes to your watercolor paper.

Let's go a step further. What if I want to draw a person on this bridge?

The head of a person about your height, standing, will be at your eye level. The horizon line. So draw the head / eyes of the Figure on the horizon line. Figure out approximately where you want the feet to be. Make a vertical line from that point to the horizon line, and make a small circle for the head. 

Make another person on the left, but closer to the viewer. Heads are all on the horizon line, but feet are in a different position.

Remember I said that things higher on the page indicate distance? The feet higher in the page make that figure look more distant.

Now make a person taller than you,(eye level higher than yours) or a child, head below your eye level.

 

I've asked everyone to have a notebook or sketch paper handy to practice some of these exercises. There is a connection between how much you learn and how much you draw for yourself. Personally, I need as many senses engaged as possible to learn something. So doing it helps put it in your brain so you don't have to worry about it so much.

The homework is just to observe. As you drive, look for the horizon line, the point of view, your vanishing point. Ask if it's at your eye level or up a hill or down a hill. I think you'll find yourself doing this anyway. 

BEGINNING THE BRIDGE ISLAND PIC

This photo reference is from Unsplash, and the photographer is Hert Niks.

Draw your picture on watercolor paper. Tape off the angles of the bridge. This is so I can freely paint the water without losing the crisp angles and edges of the bridge. I first painted in the sky.

When painting in the sky remember the sky at the top, above you, is usually bright and darker in value than the sky near the horizon. I mixed 2 puddles of paint, pure cerulean and cerulean that is muted with a little gray or burnt sienna. I wet the entire sky, and while it was wet, painted in the pure cerulean in some of the top. As I came down toward the horizon, the patches became lighter and more muted in the clouds. 

(This coincides with the principle that color in distance is lighter in value and more muted)

When I have sky and land or sky and sea, I think of it as a sandwich. The sky is bluer and cleaner at the top, and becomes lighter toward the horizon. THE SEA OR LAND is darker and a warmer blue at the bottom, an becomes lighter and cooler toward the horizon. This combination enhances the feeling of distance in the middle.

I also wet the area below the island that is reflecting color into the water. I dropped in quin gold and quin burnt orange (or a compilation of burnt sienna with warm yellow). I want this to dry before I begin the water. 

Next week we'll finish this picture.