Gor Blimey – the light (+ new workshop date)
Barns and cottages, La Tronchaise.
A brief holiday in the sun.
Back to a picturesque old hamlet in France where I ran a plein air workshop last year, and probably will again in future.
Although I was on holiday, with these 3 scenes I was also looking for future ‘demo painting’ options so I made sure each was done within an hour. One or two aspects could have benefitted from a bit of further planning, and perhaps one or two even from a little bit of further fiddling – dare I speak the word…
Collapsing cottages, La Tronchaise.
The most apparent thing to me at the time was the heat! Enough to really sap my energy, at something over 30c in the shade. The next most apparent thing was the light. So bright as to turn my visual perception almost into black and white at times, or at least simply ‘light and shade’. In each case I absolutely had to stand in the shade to paint. And that’s not something I usually restrict myself too at all in the UK, even if it is very sunny and warm.
Although the shade did seem very dark, in places I aimed to keep the shadows lighter than they appeared, to give an idea of reflected light within them.
Fortunately the hamlet has enough good compositions in shaded spots. The field with old farming machinery in fact has a lot more, but which I’ve left out. I don’t expect any of it is used, and looks like a collection that exists just for lucky painters.
Old tractor and trailers, La Tronchaise.
The ‘view up the lane’ painting features, in the middle, a barn conversion in action (except the workman/owner was sensibly somewhere in the shade!) and a huge ancient barn in the background. The same barn is in the background of the third painting, but from a different angle. This one being mainly of a collapsing derelict cottage. The windows really were at seemingly random heights and sizes, the roofs are falling in, timber, stone and tiles everywhere, all partly held together by old (mainly dead) ivy riddled throughout.
New workshop date.
On a different theme altogether, I’m pleased to say I’ve organised a one-day workshop for next Spring, based near to Bristol and Bath (UK). This one is an indoor-based workshop, which I’m calling pretty simply ‘Better Landscapes’. Aimed at painters with some experience, and limited to a small group of just 8 places, full details including how to book can currently be found on the News page of my website, here:
https://www.jembowdenwatercolour.co.uk/news/
Please join me!
Lights and darks really make a painting. These are great.
Thank you Lou. I agree, using the full tonal range really helps.
3 beauties Jem. Love the Collapsing Cottages especially!
Thanks Tim! I liked that one best, I think. Done very quickly, flies round me ears telling me to get on with it!
Thank you for this post. I really get the feeling that the sun was strong; the colours are washed out, but the shadows are strong. I do like the way you are self critical 🙂 Could you explain using just one of the paintings as an example, how the painting would have benefited from better planning? Thanks
Thanks Patricia.
I think there were many small things in terms of planning which pass by in a second and which I cannot recall now – things which are to do with my ‘plunge in’ generally instinctive approach, which I like to foster for various reasons. I’m not always like this, but often when painting purely for myself I am now, as I see many benefits and enjoy it.
But also, painting an hour or two later would have put the shadows in a place where I could have stood for a slightly improved composition. I mean’t (and forgot until too late) to add a figure to the top painting – probably got distracted, and also so keen to whizz through the pencil marking-out stage and get the paint on… I left my spray bottle at home, which meant a couple of my colours dried out too quickly in the heat. I could have squeezed out a bit more, but have to admit I probably couldn’t quite be bothered at the time – so ended up using a second choice a bit… that sort of thing
Hi Jem
As always something to learn. From your paintings. Struck by the capturing of light on top of cars etc and on some roofs Steve Hall emphasised this on wall tops and I see your way as almost a
form
Of negative shapes. As Skip Lawrence said vertical shapes are dark and horizontal surfaces light So evident in your roofs. Thanks for reinforcing this idea. Alan
Thanks Alan.
I suppose what Skip said there is a useful thought, but to be honest all I’ve done (and always do really) is observe from reality. And then enhance/emphasise/exaggerate to a degree. With most of those ‘rule of thumb’ type phrases there is always an exception out there, so I think best really just to hone the old observational skills.
In the top painting the rooftiles on the central building did have a stronger tone, and so did the blue of the sky, but I thought the relative darkness of the shadows on the tiles needed exaggerating more, so I needed to ‘hold back’ the big difference in tone for the distinction between the tiles and their shadows. The difference between darkest and lightest tone on a piece of paper can never match that of the light and shade of reality, and this always needs to be borne in mind. Hope that makes sense!
Hi Jem
You have made a great job of capturing the light in all of these painting.
It looks like you had a good productive time in France on your holiday
Hi Jem
You have made a super job of capturing the light. Seems like you had a good productive holiday in France.
Thanks Mel, pleased you think so. I was as productive as I could be, considering the heat just made me want to lie down!
Look forward to seeing you this Thurs for some more plein air fun, English style.