Wednesday Plein Air Lessons 6-29-22: Just a Pop of Color

Plein Air Study - On the Guilford Green Looking toward Whitfield Street - three buildings - 12 x 16 canvas - acrylic paints

6-29-22 - Wednesday morning. On the Guilford Green. We found a nice shady spot. Very buggy- good thing I had bug spray in the car.

Steve chose a pathway with a park bench and street lamps to feature. I selected these three buildings on Whitfield Street. The red building was once the Greene Art Gallery and is now a Real Estate office, the small middle building is a cute little gift shop called Rock Paper Sista's and the third is a residential home. The red building adds a fun pop of color to a predominantly green landscape painting.    

Process: 
- canvas size: 12 x 16 panel
- mixed a yellow ochre and alizarin crimson tone to cover canvas.
- sketched in the main shapes with burnt umber and small round brush - long handle in order measure distances and angles
-Blocked in-
Largest shapes first -  blue sky, green background foliage, green shadow in foreground and green sun-lit grass.  
-next tree trunks, buildings, cars 
-last - tree foliage that overlaps buildings

Lesson Highlights:
- Overlapping elements:  the center tree overlaps the little yellow building.
- Contrasting values: the strong dark trunk of the tree is right next to the bright sun-light yellow building bringing your attention to this adorable structure.
 - Simplify subject and enhancement: There were many more cars in front but I selected the ones I wanted to paint in and I added the Kayak on the roof of the middle vehicle to add a playful summer feel to this piece. 
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-Complementary colors: Colors directly across from each other on the color wheel are complementary colors: Red - to Green - Blue to Orange - Violet/Purple to Yellow.

​I try to add a pop of red into a mostly dominate green landscape. Red is the complement of green on the color wheel. In this case the red of the building was highly saturated  or intensity - other times the red can be a dull brownish red/orange

Keep Painting - Keep Creating - Don't give up!

Linda