Dancers
ink wash on paper
How to Paint a Landscape in Oil
This is a landscape painted with oil on paper. It was painted from a photograph and the subject is a pond in Central Park. The visual theme is "distance" and all of my choices were made in order to communicate and stress the illusion of space. The painting was made in four layers, with a few days between each one to allow the paint to dry. I am going to describe the process of each layer. STEP 1 The first step is to block in the large shapes. This is a means of mapping out the composition, choosing which objects will be included and which omitted. The exact tones used at this stage are not absolutely critical but are an approximation of the target colors. Since they will serve as a substrate for subsequent layers, I mixed them lighter and duller than my target colors. That way they won't dominate subsequent layers by showing through and altering the color of those layers—at least no more than I want them to. STEP 2 The next layer of paint is
My mistake for not checking more often for new pieces! Something caught my eye about the dancers, and I couldn't figure out what it was until I stepped back about 15' from the computer and saw that the figures themselves are the source of illumination--unusual, and effective. The man is more detailed than the woman, although he's at more distance. Intentional? There's nice tension from the fact that each is moving in one direction but facing another. Thanks for sharing, JS
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