new photo of old painting...

Oak and Sheep near Michaelstone - y Fedw

Old Old Oak, near Lower Machen

Machen Oak near Lower machen, near Draethen.

a finished shot. here you'l noticed I finished the house, established the cast shadow of the oak, and clarified the light hitting the tree.




I felt it would be easier to start again on the tree as the tone families and shadows were getting a bit lost and I was confused as to where I was, so rather than fiddle, I figured starting again, and at the same time working on edges and losing as much of the hadrness of the branches that was necessary.

I took this on the side as to see what I was trying to do in blurring the edges and fuzzing the sky and clouds around the branch / tree edges.




start back into clouds and softening branches. re working tones of background bushes.

second post on Hollow Oak tree near Draethen , Lower Machen , study.

modeling field and cont with softening clouds. next sessions is to grey the colour of the warm browns on tree and soften branshes and makes sure the tones on them are correct. also, darken hedge, it catches too much attention. and ...also, take a better photo! thanks for looking. more to follow.



notice the cast shadow at bottom right of tree. cast shadows the darkest shadow, and in this painting, its the darkest area.



into. warm red umber into tree (too much so will have to dumb down colour). looking at the 'look' of the tree's branches. does the way the light hit the tree make sense? are the tones corect, does the form turn?



cont. with big form modeling of tree and sky.



starting to break down things using tone but introducing colour ( oak mostly BU ) . the field has been patched in. continuing soften hedges, and branches. introducing colour into mid / light tones in the background.

same old oak, different angle, different posture. progress in stages.

dead colouring stage/local colour. start planning out colours and where they should be. start puting down a flad bed of colour (or trying to) . notice tree - here I've started the 'big form modeling stage' ( creating a '3d effect' put simply...modeling the 3 family tones. remeber - stay in those 3 families - create a unity of tone.
the background - is lightest. as the view receeds, things get brighter - look out on a grey day and notice the tone shifts as well as the saturation of colour. this is vitally important.

I was taught that nature cheats, - and so the human brain has to order the choas of tone and colour in front of you when your painting and process all that info - into creating an illusion on canva.s that is basically painting/drawing! so there are rules you have to abide by in order to 'talk in paint' . the old masters where MASTERS in ordering what they saw in from of them , into masses and lines of tonal colour on the canvas in front of them.

I've also started the sky here. the lightest tones are low. I don't know what I do with skys, but clouds are fun. watch them, and think of them in paint as you drive your car. watch the shapes move and the study you get in tone from a cloud are second to none.



(the Burnt umber white/ campitura colour are all part of the first stage - the drawing in/monochromatic stage were i break down light/darks and start to bring the tonal families into play. start breaking it from 2 tone - dark /light to 3 tone - light , mid , dark. all staying in the monochromatic stage. no colour.




starting to plan the compostion and feel of the piece. asking myself, what do i want it to feel like? were are th cool/ warm areas? were is the darkest darks and the lightest lights going to be? what colours do I want to use? what do i want to use form the photo, what don't I want to use?



I then soften edges were they need to be soft and start breaking down the drawing into light / dark areas. I use bristly brushes and turps to soften the drawing and get nice fuzzy areas.




the beginning of the process. I transfer drawing from drawing with a grid, I grwid up canvas and enlarge the drawing, se everything is in its right place. this is the longwinded and drawn out part. I use burnt umber and turps.

machen Oak ..near the Mad Mile, Lower machen

my old buddy the oak tree near lower machen. He's been hanging out in this field for a long time, asked him if he'd be ok if I painted him ever now and again. He liked his warm brown coat, he was getting tired of his old grey winter coat. He said I could come back again and paint him, so I did. That post will be up as soon as i finish with the art work. oil on linen.