Negative Painting....Aaaaarrrggghhhh!!!

I teach this concept at every class I do and though it was something I grasped in the early days, I never grasped when best to use it so it was a tool at my disposal which I promptly forgot about. It wasn't until I really started to improve that I began to understand the significance of what an important technique this is.

Good painting is about having a variety of aspects so colour, tone, shape, line etc (and having repetition as well) and of course edge. Edges can be soft, lost, found, positive and negative.

Here is a definition I found from Craftsy

"Negative painting is a simple technique that involves applying pigment around an subject to give it definition. You'll add paint to surround the person, place or object, making it stand out because it appears lighter than the background"

which is pretty much what I would have said about it too. However you don't need to use the technique to make the whole subject appear.... you can just reveal part of it. I mentioned lost and found edges, well it is the found edges which can be created both positively and negatively... the lost edges simply aren't there.  

Will give you some examples......

In the leaf below at the base of the leaf you can see some hard edges formed negatively to reveal the edge of the leaf. Opposite another area of negative painting. The tips are mostly lost and there is a bit of a soft edge towards bottom right. Other areas have been painted positively where I have painted the body of the leaf and created the edge from inside. But the whole subject has a mix of all the edges and not all the subject has been defined.

In the the following example the heads of the sheep have been created by painting the background behind them using a build up of quite dark paint. I have also left a little "halo" around the heads which also helps the idea of pitching light against dark while still allowing me to give some of the sheep dark heads and faces.The bodies have in contrast been "lost" into the foreground and the details on the faces have been painted positively.

In this final example (a Brusho hydrangea) I have again used a variety of edges. Some of the form of the bottom of the flower head has been created negatively if you check out the stem it is clearly painted negatively as it is paler than the bg, and also some of the petals inside the flower. You can also see a little touch of yellow almost in the centre of the painting which just create a teeny bit of form and likewise if you follow the edge anticlockwise to just before "o'clock" you can see another tiny bit of yellow. Those touches just finish the shape physically and our eyes do the rest. If you look carefully at this painting you will see the full variety of edges though fewer positively created shapes than negatively, as hydrangeas tend to be lots of petals hidden behind others so lots of darker shapes

Would appreciate any comments to let me know if this has helped and if you would like another blog with some more examples... I didn't want to bombard everyone with too much information at once?

Did it Work?

I have been to the lovely Westhoughton Art Group this morning or WAG as they are affectionately know and they wanted me to do a Brusho workshop so I happily obliged. Joanne Boon Thomas had taken a lovely photo of some poppy seed heads which I have used a couple of times and I also have one from Richard Long on PMP so I used them both for reference.

I asked them all to select their palette first as I find with Brusho it is very easy to get muddy colours and a little time spent before is time well worth spending as it is so easy to get the colour choices wrong. Just 3 and at most 4 colours.

I did a quick drawing....I don't often draw with watercolour but find it more important with Brusho so I have some idea as to where to sprinkle the crystals.

I used lemon, purple, leaf green and turquoise... it's a combination I use quite a lot... first because I like it, second because I know the colours work together and third I felt it would suit my subject.

One of the members of the group had been doing his homework and told me of another way to apply the Brusho which he had researched yesterday on the internet and I have to confess I have seen this done but not tried it so today was the opportunity to give it a go. It involves lifting the lids off which doesn't sit well with me, then, using a dry brush, scoop up some Brusho using your brush to sprinkle onto the paper,  I have to admit you could certainly position the Brusho better on the paper than sprinkling from little holes on the tops of the pots, my two hesitations are unless you replace the lids IMMEDIATELY you risk tipping the pots over and getting Brusho everywhere and unless you use a different brush for each application, you risk contaminating the different pots.....

My piece is still a WIP but I have to say I thought it worked well and I think I will go back to this one and just add a few finishing touches...... something I rarely do with workshop pieces. But this one has promise, it needs a bit more in the bg I think but I hope it will be a lovely painting when it is finished..... what do you think?

An Update on my Colour Planets (and other things too)

I have had a lot of questions recently about my colour planets (click for the link to the blog post) and though the blog post remains true to this day I thought I might update it with a bit of extra information.

As many of you know when I come to choose my colours I simply have a look at my palette, sometimes think which colours haven't I used for a while and what might go with them and what will make  a nice combination that might look good with my subject. So very unscientific to say the least!!

I don't always use my planets now but if I find I am losing my way with colour choices or a bit uncertain I go back to them and they ALWAYS make a difference.

When looking at my options I always choose one (or sometimes more) colours which will give me the darkest tonal value... all paints will give the lightest values simply by adding more and more water but  not all colours will give the darkest values and even if it is only for the slightest touches, some really good darks will make your work sing. Colours such as Indigo, prussian, Ub, purple, burnt/raw umber etc.

So I start by adding my prospective colours fairly wet but quite concentrated to my paper (usually in a circle hence the name planets) adding more water to allow the the different colours to mix (water is the transporter so paint will only flow where the paper is wet). I start usually with 3 colours and then may decide I need another one or at most two more. Once the paint is on my paper I watch it mix and mingle and judge the effect I am getting....the colours produce the mood and atmosphere so it is clear very quickly if I like or if I think they will suit my subject.

Once I have chosen my colours I use only those choices. This helps in two ways, first to harmonize colour around the painting and second it takes away any decisions you might have to make mid painting when you may be rushing and you may not make good choices... you know which colours you are using as you have already decided so all greens are made with what you have chosen, all oranges, purples and everything in between all from your initial choices. I often find it helps me to work only with tone once I have chosen my colours and simply apply the paint in darks, mid tones and lights as I see them in my reference. Here is an example

This was a dull Autumnal day with not much light but I liked the gate which is sort of hidden along a private road close to where I live. I didn't want to paint exactly as I saw and decide to try an unusual colour scheme of Turq, purple and burnt sienna and all my colours were mixed with these 3 colours... this was the painting

As you can see the colours bear no resemblance to the reference but I like to think it is an attractive piece in it's own right and maybe has added something to the original photo.

Here is another example...a photo I took of a chocolate box cottage in the Lake District. I have painted this subject many times but each time adds a new dimension as I choose a different palette

This first example is an xmassy theme using purple, burnt sienna and green gold... lovely cool feel to this one and exactly the sort of atmosphere I was looking for

The next example was done in Brusho and I think you can see has a completely different atmosphere but still only limited colours, Turquoise , purple, yellow and emerald green (I think, it's a while since I did this one but you get the idea...)

And finally a painting of my friend's dog Holly a gorgeous Shitzu cross

I can't actually find the reference for this but basically it was a B&W photo which I interpreted with colour... indigo, translucent orange, opera pink and raw and burnt sienna. Colours placed randomly around the face paying attention only to tonal value.
 
2 things I am trying to get across here.

First is that you don't need many colours to create a good painting and the more colours you use especially when you are in the early stages of your journey the less likely you are to get a good result. But the secret of choosing a good colour scheme is to try it our BEFORE you start and one way to do that is to use a colour planet.

Second you don't need to be a slave to your photograph in fact have the confidence that you can steer away from it and actually improve the image and give it an added dimension.  I have to say this one took a while to sink in with me as I never thought I could improve on the information a photograph gave me... after all that was nature and that's what it was like... so wrong and now the last thing I want to do is create a photographic representation so even if I decide to recreate my subject as close to life as possible I will always play around with a different background and add colours and tones which will enhance my subject, pitching light against dark and placing complimentary colours together. these tricks will all help to enhance the image, will add another dimension and create truly individual work.

As many of you will know I mix paint on my paper so by using the colour planets it gives me a really good idea of how my painting will look and how the paints interact together.

How I run my All Day Workshops

I ran my first beginners all day workshop at the BoonRic Gallery where the lovely Joanne Boon Thomas gave me an opportunity. I was quite nervous but prepared well and I would like to think they were well received. Since then I have run more at the gallery and then moved to Sunshine House in Wigan where they have a lovely room and very nice facilities.

I am also invited to lots of art groups and societies where they not only organize their regular 2/3 hour demos and workshops but also all day events and if anyone would be interested in me visiting their art groups after reading this please get in touch here or e-mail me on judesfarnworth@hotmail.com. I am prepared to travel to most parts of the UK as I am happy to stay over either before or after the event if it is too far to travel in one day.

Now I tend to run my own sessions a little closer to home and hire a really good sized modern church hall and though I don't provide lunch I do make sure we have a yummy selection of biscuits. No-one can accuse me of not getting priorities right!!

I run them all along the same lines though of course we do different subject matter and this year I have run 3 Brusho and 2 watercolour events. I will shortly be booking some sessions for next year so if you would like to be on my e-mail list to be notified then again please get in touch.

We start by a short description of how I paint and why I paint like I do and I demonstrate everything as I believe a lot of people learn better from visual clues rather then verbal. I then ask people to have a try and I am there to help, show them how or to answer any questions.

We then do a small study which is part of the theme we are working on for that particular session where I talk about lost, found positive and negative edges, light/dark contrast, complimentary colours and anything else I can think of on the day.... all this information is really important to grasp if you ever want to really progress with your work.

That takes care of the morning and in the afternoon we tackle a full painting using all the tips,hints and hopefully skills learned during the morning session.

My next session is Winter Florals later this month and I have been looking at different subjects for the main painting I will be demonstrating and I think I have settled on some Xmas roses, photo courtesy of Glennis Weston on PMP. I started off by painting her white roses but it ended up taking too long to complete and though I liked the finished painting I felt it might be a bit difficult for a workshop. Today I have had a go at some pink/purple roses which I feel will work better. I paint do paint quickly but if I am to finish a painting in a workshop giving enough time for people to do theirs I need to be able to complete mine in about an hour and the first painting took quite a bit longer. This next one has taken about an hour and though I am not wholly happy with it at the moment and I will do it again and tweak it to make sure it is achievable.

For people who think we just turn up at workshops and deliver... think again!! By the time I am ready for this one I might have spent more than double the time of the actual workshop in preparation starting with creating some sort of advertising material, sending out e-mails, admin involved then for the actual day, trying to find suitable images to work from both for the studies and the main painting, practicing the ones I feel may be suitable, discarding some and keeping the actual ones I choose. On the day I arrive early to set the room up with help of hubby, set up the refreshments. take the money etc, then when finished put everything back, empty bins, hoover up and head home for a very welcome G&T!! Phew!!

Here is a sneak preview of the painting we may be doing

One Way to Make your Flowers Look Part of the Compostion

I have been playing with some ideas for my Winter Florals workshop I am running on the 22nd November and I love Christmas Roses. we have some deep purple (almost black) in our garden but they aren't flowering yet so I searched for an image and found this one by Glennis Weston on PMP.

I did my drawing which didn't include all the flower heads, just 3 and created my composition from there.  As all the petals had a white edges and I needed to find a way to make them part of the background without losing those edges. Normally I would wash some of them away but decided to work a bit differently for this one

 I used the following colours Quin Magenta, Turq, Cad yellow, green and I masked the stamens before I started painting making sure it was completely dry before I began painting.

I then did my background alternating my colours , throwing the paint and water until my paper was soaked.... instead of waiting for it all to dry, I started another painting... more of that another day!

The bg had dried with lots of cauliflowers and I really wasn't liking what I was seeing and in fact didn't like any of it for almost the next hour!! I worked on the petals in an almost botanical way, adding layers wet in wet and wet on dry until I was getting some shape to them and although you can't really see any of the magenta in the image I added it to my petals (well it is my painting!!) together with the other 3 colours in my chosen palette, keeping some areas very light and darkening others. I then moved back to the bg and created and then lost some of the leaf shapes and only then did I feel I might just rescue something from what I was beginning to think was a total disaster!!

I stepped back a bit when I had added a couple of the dark areas and moved around the piece with touches of dark here and there and losing some of the leaf edges as well.

By adding those touches of colour which are in the bg into the petals I feel the whole painting pulled together and I have ended up really happy with the result... just shows we need to finish our work, often beyond the point of where we feel we are overworking and as we have been discussing in a fb group recently, it is better to finish a piece and overwork it than not finish and be left wondering what to do. By working on them further you free yourself to try different things and learn so much from the process and there is a chance you will get something you like out of it!!