Hello! Did you enjoy the lesson last week on VALUE? Hopefully you had a chance to put some of the information into practice with drawing or painting. It works either way. And, as I said, it is vital for a good painting as is the focal point.
This week I said I would talk about perspective. It too, is important, but ESPECIALLY so when working with buildings or structures such a a table in a still-life. Actually, it is to always be considered even with landscapes and nature. You just notice it more with buildings or more correctly you notice it more when they are OUT of perspective!
Below I have a picture of 1 and 2 point perspective. In a drawing or a painting, there is always a horizon line. (where land meets sky) Everything vanishes from the eye at this point, so to speak. When trying to get perspective correct, drawing lines can be really helpful! Especially when you are new at it. Later on you can just use a ruler, etc to site it and not necessarily draw in the lines. But it is not bad if you want to continue drawing lines. Just draw them lightly so they can be erased easily. This drawing is particularly about buildings. You are seeing one from below and one from above..that is not important really. What is important is to establish where you want your vanishing point to be and then draw the lines for your building. BTW, the line DOES NOT have to be on your paper or canvas!! It can be far off the surface. You would just use a yardstick if a ruler isn't long enough. Understand? Ok. This shows boxes, but remember a building is just a box with a roof. So don't forget the roof when drawing lines PLUS the doors and windows, porches, etc, etc, etc. All are subject to the perspective lines. If you don't it will jump out at you as something not being right!
Now, when this is used in nature it would look something like my drawing below. The closer things are to the viewer, the larger they are. We all know that, but we don't necessarily think of that when we draw or paint. It needs to become second nature when we do! Study the photo below and you will get the idea. It is a simple but important point to remember if you want your paintings to look real!
Notice, here that the further away the trees are, the smaller they are. This is VERY important! It is how a pencil or paint brush makes a one dimensional object appear three dimensional! You can almost visualize the invisible perspective line going from each group of trees from front to back. Also, as the road goes further away it gets smaller and narrower. It is not necessary to go UP the canvas to make it appear to be receding! Just make it SMALLER! That is the key!!!! Learn to do this and your paintings will improve ten fold!! Be very careful in curves to make sure they follow the perspective lines too. Sometimes, we swing out too far, or don't narrow there as we should.
Well, so much for this lesson. I hope you have enjoyed and can use these three lessons on painting. Put them into practice and I KNOW you will see a BIG improvement in your work and you will receive many compliments!
Now for my paintings of the week. I have two. Both are larger paintings. One was a commission and the other was for fun! The commission is first. It is a 30 x 40 canvas, gallery wrap or unframed.
The client asked for an abstract seascape with soft grays and blues. She had a photo with her to give me an idea of what she was looking for which always helps. Of course, no copying allowed! The photo is below, both of the painting and of it hanging in its new home. A good thing to do BTW if you ever want to develop a portfolio!
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| "SERENE SEA" 30 x 40 Acrylic commissioned |
Now for the fun one! As you know, I am working on a "Carnival" series. This is another one in that series, but much larger than the first two. It is a 24 x 24 canvas and I tilted it into a diamond, just for fun. While working on it I picked up my artwork from the "Black and White" show at the Art Association and saw some of the artwork there being entered into the "Cutting Edge" show. I thought why not? It might be fun! So... I finished the painting and added a lot of bling! Didn't win a prize but I had a lot of fun doing it! And who knows, someone might just fall in love with it. My family did! I cannot get the easel out of the photo as it is diamond shaped, so please ignore the mess around it. Anyway, it is below and I added a close up photo of the bling. Enjoy!
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| "CARNIVAL" Carnival Series 24 X 24 Acrylic |
I added glued on jewels and feathers to her to add the bling. She looks like an exotic caribbean dancer! My son-in-law, who is Puerto Rican, loved this one! He said it makes him want to dance!
Well, so long for now. Next week, I will go into a painting I am working on for the 2017 "NATURE and WILDLIFE" competition. It is in July at the Art Association here. See you then.
And, as always, Thanks for looking!
