Spring 2019 Acrylic Class

Acrylic Project: Pink Umbrella Week 2

In our last class I was working on adding some of the detail into the distant hills. I have labeled them so you can see the slight difference between the very distant hills and the middle ground ridge. In those distant hills I added a touch more white to my colors so they would be softer and grayer in tone and value, this will help me to create distance in this painting.

Here is a note I haven't talked about before and that is the lens of the camera. I was using my 300mm telephoto lens and one of the results of the long lens  is the compression of the image. What that means is it can make the elements look closer to each other than they actually were. That distant hill was probably at least a mile or more away, the middle ridge (above) was maybe 1000+ yards and the ridge with the lady about 300 yards yet the image I took makes everything look to be much closer to me than it was. When we paint from a photo, we need to be aware of this so we can use our artistic license to help create depth in our paintings, so remember: As things go into the distance they become softer and grayer in color and value and less detailed.

I did add some mid-tones to the green with the Hooker's green, a touch of orange and white for the sunnier areas, Hooker's,ultramarine blue and white for the shadowed sides of the hills. It is a very subtle change but it is there. I also added the under painting for some of the dirt and rocks on that back area with burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and white, less white on the shadowed side.

This is important to remember: When you are adding in either the highlights on the scrub bush or the trails/rocks be sure to make your strokes go in the direction of the surface you are painting.Those hills have contours and your strokes need to angle with what you are painting. Study the image above and the next one to see how I have used my strokes to create a sense of contour and shape to that distant hill. This is the reason you need to have your reference photo in front of you so you can look before you paint.

This is in that wash that comes down those distant hills. Notice how my brush strokes create some of the rock outcroppings down that wash just by the way I applied the paint. While harder to see, I did the same thing when I was applying the bushes and the flowers so they look like they are growing down the sides of the cliffs and over the top of ridges.

This is where I left off last week and while it doesn't look like much right now, I think as we start to finish the distant hills next class and start working on the middle and foreground you will see this thing start to come together. That's the plan anyway.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.