Fingal Bay - the finished painting

Fingal Bay - NSW

In my last post I showed how I did the underpainting of this artwork using acrylics, on location. Using acrylics while on location has its own advantages and disadvantages. An advantage is that you can easily carry the painting with you while travelling because it dries quickly and so you can place it anywhere you like. On the other hand, if working in very warm conditions, excessive fast drying can be a disadvantage during the painting process itself.

So back to the studio I decided to finish this painting in oils. You can always work with oils over acrylics but not the other way round. I started from the sky, using cerulean blue and white with a  touch of alizarin crimson and raw sienna to the distant sky. I darkened the sky as I moved forward adding cobalt blue and alizarin to the right hand side corner and white and a touch of viridian to the left hand side corner from where the light is coming.

The distant land on the left was blocked with cerulean blue and highlights with raw sienna and white. The middle ground was blocked with cobalt and alizarin while the closest and mass on the right was blocked with ultramarine blue and alizarin with touch of yellow ochre to gray it. 

For the distant water I used ultramarine and phthalo blue and phthalo green, adding yellow and Australian red gold to the shallow water on the front. The detailes of the tress where painted using ultramarine blue mixed with yellow and a mixture of burnt sienna, viridian and Australian red gold. I added two sailing boats to the distance to cut the horizontal shoreline of Sharks Island in the distance. The wet sand on the fron was painted with yellow ochre mixed with burnt sienna and cerulean blue.

Oil painting - Near Warrenbungles

This is an oil on canvas I finished a week ago. The original photo was taken while on my way to Lightning Ridge and I was driving on a road crossing through the Warrenbungles National Park. 

The sky was painted using titanium white and raw sienna for the lower part and cerulean blue for the top and closer sky.

A mix of cobalt blue and permanent rose was used as an underpainting for the mountains (adding more titanium white to the distant mountain). The same mix was used to under-paint the mid-ground. Underpainting of the mid-ground trees was done using a darker mix by adding more cobalt blue and rose. The underpaint of the front three and ground was painted using a mix of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

Highlights on the mountain were done by adding white to the underpaint plus addition of lemon yellow for the side facing the sun. The same was done for the highlights on the trees to which I added raw sienna and cadmium orange.

The ground in the distance was painted using a flat brush and horizontal brush strokes with white, cadmium orange, lemon yellow and a touch of viridian.

As moving towards the foreground more viridian and yellow ochre were added for the ground. The grass at the front was painted witha painting knife using cadmium yellow, viridan and Australian red gold.

Highlights on the front tree were painted with cadmium yellow mixes with ultramarine blue and white. Details such as house and cows were added later on.

Misty Gum Trees

Original Photo

Misty Gums, Oil on Canvas, 45 x 90cm

This is a painting I did some time ago from a photo I took of gum trees on the Murray river banks. The photo is a little bit dull and boring and so I wanted to create a vibrant painting out of it. For the composition I only used the four main gum trees and the setup next to the river in order to create reflections in the water. 

When coming to decide the colour scheme of this painting I chose the majority of my colours from the warm side of the colour wheel starting from yellow to red. Then I used two complements, ultaramarine blue (for the shadows) and green. 

I started by creating a gradient of colours in the background. Using a two inch house painting brush and a vertical brush stroke I applied titanium white to the right hand side of the canvas. From white I went to yellow, using raw sienna which when mixed with white gives a very bright background yellow. The next colour was vermillion to burnt sienna on the sides. Using vertical brush strokes I blended the colours to create a gradient. 

Using a mixture of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue I blocked in the darkest trees, river bank and water reflections. For the water reflections I initially used a vertical brush stroke, followed by a horizontal one to create a water effect. 

The background trees were painted using a vertical brush stroke, bottom to top with various values of vermillion mixed with burnt sienna. White and raw sienna was used for highlights. The highlights on the front trees were added using a painting knife and mixes of white with Naples yellow and vermillion. Water ripples were also added using pallette knife and a mixture of white and ultramarine blue. Grass on the river bank was painted using cadmium yellow light and ultramarine. Same colour tinted with white was used for foliage, together with cadmium yellow light and cadmium red medium.

Painting with acrylics and oils

Today I am writing about a recent painting I finished of another Australian landscape.

I started this painting from the above reference photo, which I took while vacationing at snowy mountains very close to Thredbo, almost two years ago. This photo has very nice background mountains but the foreground is not that inspiring. However I decided to keep the basic shapes while modifying the colour scheme and adding gum trees to the foreground. Using charcoal I did a rough sketch of the main forms to define the background, middle and foreground. I added a farmhouse at the far end of the middle ground.

I started the painting by executing an underpainting with acrylic colours to establish the basic forms as well as the mood of the painting.

I decided to paint an early morning scene and so I chose a pallette of warm oranges and yellows and cool blues for the background. I then removing some trees and the road that was originally winding uphill in distance. The advantage of using an acrylic underpainting is that it dries very quickly although you can achieve the same result if you had to dilute oils with mineral spirit.

Next step was to go for a layer of oil colour to enforce the shadows and mid-tones in the painting. Colours used were titanium/zinc white, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cerulean blue, yellow ochre, cad orange, burnt sienna, Australian red gold, virmillion, burnt umber, sap green, viridian,cad yellow light.

The final stage was to add the details and highlights, using both brushes and pallette knives. The final product can be seen above.

Waterfall painting

This painting shows one of the waterfalls found on one of the tracks in Blue Mountains. My favorite bush walks are those deep in the rainforests surrounded by ferns and where light seldom reaches. Waterfalls, creek and small rock pools continue to enhance the landscape. This is what inspires me most, the effect of light, water and water reflections.

This painting is an acrylic on canvas. I used a technique which is more impressionistic since it lacks the fine details of realism. I light source is coming from the right upper corner. I started by a simple wash of the main colours as an underpainting, using titanium white and Naples yellow for the lighting. Cerulean blue and white was used for the distant rock underpainting adding raw sienna to it to create tints of green for the vegetation. A mix of ultramarine blue, white and vermilion was used for the underpainting of the main rock for the waterfall, adding more blue and red to darken it as I moved closer to the front. Using the same colours plus burnt sienna and burnt umber I pained the foreground using horizontal brush strokes.

After drying I added more layers of paint to the light source and to the background rocks by mixing white with touches of alizarin red and burnt sienna to create the rocks. I added more details and colour to the vegetation by using a mixture of Naples yellow, cerulean blue and olive green for the mid-tones. I added highlights with increasing amounts of white and Naples yellow, using a dabbing stroke of a flat brush.

With dry brush I scrubbled the mist below the vegetation using a mixture of white and cobalt blue.

The vegetation on the left hand corner was painted using a mixture of greens darkened by its complementary colour alizarin red.

Then I started adding details to the rock. Using a pallette knife as well as brush I started adding mid-tones using a mixture of white, alizarin red and burnt sienna. The closer to the front of the painting the more burnt sienna was used. After drying I started adding highlights using white and naples yellow to the rock. I also prepared a wash of phtalo green with raw sienna and Naples yellow and with very soft touches I started adding some green colour to the rocks. Using the same wash that I used for the mist, I added some mist to the back part of the rock.

Using the same mixes of greens and burnt sienna I strted adding reflections to the ground, using horizontal brush strokes. The water was done using dry brushes with mixtures of white plus cobalt blue. Highlights with white and Naples yellow using a very small (0) round brush and intermittent brush strokes.

A wash of white and cobalt blue was used to give the impression of water on the ground. I then added different greens a mixture of yellows and red gold to add some vegetation to the rocks especially to the front part of the painting.

Using Colours - mixing and characteristics

Placing colours on the pallette

When you decide which colours to use in the painting you are planning to do, you can place an amount from each colour from the tube onto the pallette. Always try to keep the same order of how you place the colours, usually using the order of the colour wheel. I usually place the colours in the order starting from reds on the left hand side, yellows and blues on the right hand side. I place White on the right hand side and browns just after the reds. Always place the colours on the upper part of the pallette and leave a lot of space for mixing colours.

Diluting colours

Most of the time we will need to dilute colours since they are usually too thick to use directly from the tube. You thin the colours by using one of the several media that are available. However for oil colours the most common diluents used are pure gum terpentine, odourless mineral spirits and refined linseed oil.

Since you want the underpainting to dry very quickly the best to use are odourless spirits or pure gum terpentine. I prefer the former due to lack of odour. You can dilute the paints either by dipping the brush in the mdium before picking the colours obviously adding amount of mineral spirit depending on what you want to achieve. The more diluent you add the thinner the paint and the more it dries quickly. This is good to do a wash for the underpainting. You can thin the colour especially white by adding drops of diluent onto it while mixing with painting knife until the paint has a consistency like a toothpaste.

For the next layer of paint I will dilute using a mix of 1:4 linseed oil with mineral spirit.

To decrease the drying time it is also wise to use liquin which decreases drying to almost 1/3 of the normal time.

In the case of acrylics usually you dilute with water or else one of the several media available that usually are used to increase drying time since acrylics dry very quickly especially in hot and dry conditions.

Drying Times

Different oil colours have different drying times. This is because oil colours do not dry by evaporation but by oxidation. Here are some examples:

Fast drying times (1 - 2 days) cobalt blue, Prussian blue, Raw sienna, umbers, Flake white

Medium drying times (5 days) permanent alizarin, cadmiums, ultramarine blue, ochres, burnt sienna, titanium white, zinc white

Long drying time (> 5 days) acrylamides, alizarin crimson, quinacridones

Use of colour in landscape painting

In order to create the illusion of distance as well as other characteristics such as time of the day or seasonal variations one has to know which colours to use in a landscape. As a general rule, very cool colours will recede in distance while warm colours appear to be at the foreground. However there are different blues, reds and yellows available that can in themselves be warm or cool. Here are some examples:

• Cobalt and cerulean blues are cool blues very good for skies and distant objects especially when mixed with white. Add crimson as you move closer (turning purple) and a touch of raw sienna to change it to grey.
• Ultramarine blue is a warmer blue and can be used for objects that are closer
• Alizarin crimson is a cool red and so it is ideal for backrounds, to darken mountains and other objects as they come closer and to create shadows in the clouds or purplish colours in the skies. When mixing will alizarin crimson be cautious as the colour is very intense and you will only need to use very small amounts
• Cad red, vermillion are warm reds with cadmiums being the warmer, so usually these are used for nearby objects
• Cadmium yellow or orange are warm while lemon yellow is a cool colour. For background yellows or greens one can use raw sienna which can look yellow especially when mixed with white
• Vermillion is a pure and very intense green but rarely used on its own due to its strong and artificial looking colour. You can use touches of vermillion mixed with other colours such as raw sienna to give a green tint.
• Burnt umber can be used for foreground and the same for burnt sienna. Burnt umber creates an interesting green when mixed with veridian
• Always try to darken a colour by using the opposite colour (complementary) on the colour wheel.
• Indian yellow or Australian red gold forms a bright yellow (golden) when mixed with white.

Composition 3 - Oil Painting Landscape

Composition 3 - The Three Sisters

This is a painting I recently finished showing the iconic Three Sisters at the Blue Mountains. This is an oil on canvas board. I used 10oz cotton canvas on MDF board.

I am going to use this painting to go through the basic techniques of landscape painting. 

To start with, most landscape paintings have a background which usually includes the sky. The furthest mountains in this painting are part of the background. 

The midground refers to the closer mountains and the rock formations themselves.
The foreground at the bottom of the painting is the closest to the viewer.

To create the sense of distance and depth one has to use colour and also relationship of different objects to each other, i.e. the closer the subject is to you it looks bigger, more detailed and darker in colour.

Aerial perspective. When you look at a distant object like looking at mountains that are kilometers away, one tends to see them having a bluish colour. This is because there is atmosphere between the mountains and the viewer and this atmosphere is made up of gasses and humidity that scatters light coming from the sun while absorbing most colours leaving only blue to reach your eyes. So in a painting we need to create this effect. In the morning since there are more water droplets in the atmosphere the bluish colour seems to be stronger.

I started the painting with a rough sketch and underpaint using a wash of basic colours. I diluted the paints with odourless mineral spirit for fast drying.The underpainting was done using cobalt blue and titanium white for sky and background mountains, adding more alizarin crimson to the forground mountains and rock formations and dark burnt umber for the forground rocks.

Backround.
As a diluent for the rest of the painting I used a mix of 1:4 linseed oil with odourless mineral spirit.
After the first wash I left the painting to dry overnight. The next day the paint was almost completely dry.
Using a mix of titanium/zinc white I started from below the horizon line up into the sky. The distant sky has to be close to white. Cobalt blue was used for the upper part of the sky, darker at the corners and using a criss-cross brush stroke blended into the white of the distant sky creating a gradient.
The cloud was painted using a purplish shadow from cobalt blue and alizarin red. Using a 8 filbert brush I added the white highlights with a touch of burnt sienna, blending the colour into the shadow in a circular movement. Using a clean dry brush I softened the brush strokes using a diagonal brush stroke up into the right hand corner. The horizontal distant mountain at the horizon was done using a single brush stroke with cobalt blue onto the white underpaint. The lower part within the valley was left as white as possible to give the illusion of mist.
Midground
Using a mix of ultramarine blue + titanium white with a touch of alizarin I created the background mountain on the left hand side. Adding more blue and slightly more alizarin red I did the other mountain on the left hand side just behind the rock formations.
To the same mix I added slightly more ultra blue and more alizarin crimson creating a reddish purple. With this mix I painted the right hand side middle mountain.
The underpaint of the three sisters was painted using a mix of ultramarine blue + white + vermillion.
I started adding the details to the background mountains. The cliffs were painted with a mix of white with a touch of alizarin. I added a touch of very lemon yellow mix with white to the mountain behind the three sisters giving the hint of trees. The cliffs on the right handside mountain where painted with titanium white + alizarin + touch of burnt sienna (not completely mixed but left as marbled).
Using a mix of titanium white + raw sienna I started adding the grass and hint of trees to the right hand side mountain. The highlights were done by adding more white to the raw sienna. Using a filbert brush I added more trees from back to front, enhancing the brush stroke and leaving shadows from teh underpaint in between them. Using a liner brush and a mix of blue/white I added the tree trunks randomly throughout, increasing the size as I come forward.
The rock formations of the tree sisters were painted using a mix of white + alizarin + more burnt sienna partially mixed. I used a flat brush and a small painting knife to create the rock effect.
The trees around the three sisters were painted using a filbert brush loaded with a mix of titanium white + raw sienna + gray (made up of alizarin + ultramarine blue + touch of raw sienna) + very tiny spec of viridian green. Highlights were added randomly using a mix of white with Australian red gold (or if you want Indian yellow).
Foreground
Using a painting knife I sculptured the rock formation at the forground using a very dark mix of burnt umber, Payne's gray + burnt sienna. I partially mized these colours with titanium/zinc white and using the knife strokes in the direction the rocks are positioned. The shadow of the cliff edges was left with Payne's gray and burnt umber. I added a little bit of green colour (ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow medium) to the rock and also a touch of vermillion (red).
The bush was painted with the same mix of Payne's gray, burnt umber and viridian green. Highlights of the bush was painted with cadmium yellow medium, Australian red gold, white mix. I used pallette knife for most of the foreground including tree trunk of bush as it creates a really nice bold effect.

Hope you enjoy and that you found this information usefull.
Happy painting