I plan to post current paintings on my blog site. I'm not much of a writer but I do love to paint. I do oils and pastels and I teach workshops. I plan to sometimes post demos and talk about how to create a painting as well.
Please check out my website at www.alineordman.com
Friday, April 26, 2013
Wellfleet Shore oil on canvas 9 x 12
This demo, once again, was a way to inspire students to be inspired but certainly not tied to a photo.
Hi Aline! I feel so vindicated. I must work from photos due to my bum neck (I need to lie back as I paint with pastels),but I just let my imagination take off after the first few masses are in. Still, your example inspires me to fly further afield. I really like the lighting change you've made in this work! The reference is drab noonday light; your painting is tawny gold light. I love it. You get away with the most amazing color combos & temperatures. Your sky seems 'warm' while your foreground bushes seem 'cool' gray-green. BUT--you tuck enough cool green & blue in the distance, & warm orange & olive green in front to make it all work. I suspect, too, that the sky's yellow is a cool lemon yellow. You are very skilled at temperatures--this is a perfect example. I laugh as I flip between the photo & your painting. Did you even NEED the photo? There is,like, ZERO similarity. Yet as someone who uses my own photo refs exclusively, it's true that you need SOME jumping off point. And there is nothing like a blank canvas or paper to make your mind go equally blank! Suddenly, all those ideas you had about what to paint are GONE. Your students are SO lucky to have you, Aline! You're a wonderful teacher to show them just how much they can pull out of the simplest photo reference--as long as they're willing to take a few chances. Much love, MaryB
Thank you Hilda and Mary! I have to say, this was a scary one to do as I had a couple of new students and thought...what will they think if I screw this up? One thing that I had done was make the water too blue and it wasn't that interesting a shape...and then I did take inspiration from the photo to remember the monochramatic colors and realized I had to have the water relate to the grasses and sky more and then it felt more unified
A wonderful demo, Aline. You produced a beautiful painting from this photo..!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Aline! I feel so vindicated. I must work from photos due to my bum neck (I need to lie back as I paint with pastels),but I just let my imagination take off after the first few masses are in. Still, your example inspires me to fly further afield.
ReplyDeleteI really like the lighting change you've made in this work!
The reference is drab noonday light; your painting is tawny gold light. I love it. You get away with the most amazing color combos & temperatures. Your sky seems 'warm' while your foreground bushes seem 'cool' gray-green.
BUT--you tuck enough cool green & blue in the distance, &
warm orange & olive green in front to make it all work. I suspect, too, that the sky's yellow is a cool lemon yellow.
You are very skilled at temperatures--this is a perfect example.
I laugh as I flip between the photo & your painting. Did you even NEED the photo? There is,like, ZERO similarity. Yet as someone who uses my own photo refs exclusively, it's true that you need SOME jumping off point. And there is nothing like a blank canvas or paper to make your mind go equally blank! Suddenly, all those ideas you had about what to paint are GONE.
Your students are SO lucky to have you, Aline! You're a wonderful teacher to show them just how much they can pull out of the simplest photo reference--as long as they're willing to take a few chances.
Much love, MaryB
Thank you Hilda and Mary! I have to say, this was a scary one to do as I had a couple of new students and thought...what will they think if I screw this up? One thing that I had done was make the water too blue and it wasn't that interesting a shape...and then I did take inspiration from the photo to remember the monochramatic colors and realized I had to have the water relate to the grasses and sky more and then it felt more unified
Delete