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I was really itching to start painting when I started this one. It a very hot day during our second week in Adendorp. There were cicadas in the trees, Tom & Fred (the pets) were lounging in the shade. I put on a big sun hat and headed off left out of the gate.
A short way down the road I saw the painting. The sun shimmered on the dusty tar road ahead. Lovely shade from a thorn tree splattered across the road.
I took this photograph for reference and retreated back to the shade of the house to sketch it out.
Sketched out and blocked in. By this stage I was intrigued with the way the cold wax medium was behaving. The hot temperatures make it a little more liquid. There are definitely possibilities to be explored there.
Adjusting the distant and lighter foliage with lighter greens.
Reinforcing the darks and working on the edges within the painting.
Here I am with my nearly finished painting, standing in the view that I am painting.
And this is the final painting, available from MY SHOP with free shipping within South Africa.
I’m enjoying exploring the neighbourhood in our new village. Visually it is very different from the lush greens of Stanford in the Western Cape. On sunny days (most days around here) the colours are quite washed out and the light/dark contrast is heightened.
I’ve been collecting reference photographs everywhere I go, and making notes about good plein air painting locations.
Oil on board
24 x 24 cm
Unframed
Value, put simply, is how light or how dark something is. It’s one of the most important elements of art, in my opinion.
It took me quite some time to really understand why a value study is so important. Getting the values right gives you a convincing painting. Value is much more important than colour to create something convincing.
My value sketches are done with a 4B pencil in a sketchbook.
Sometimes, once I’ve finished the value sketch, I might decide that I’m not convinced by the composition or that a different approach of the subject might make a better painting.
Value studies help me decide whether or not a painting will be visually appealing.
It’s also a practice run, and a chance to map out the big shapes for a quicker start to painting.
I live in a BIG dramatic landscape that includes the Kleinrivier (Little River), Kleinriviersberg (Little River Mountain) and Akkedisberg (Lizard Mountain), abundant Fynbos flora, the leafy historic village of Stanford, many farms (some with forests), a coastline, a lagoon, wetlands and a few precious Milkwood forests. I’m spoiled for choice when it comes to inspiration. All of this is within a 15 minute drive.
I find my subjects on walks around the village and along the Wandelpad, or on visits to the numerous farm restaurants and wine estates around Stanford. Drives to nearby Hermanus also spark ideas on this spectacular stretch of road.
While I’m out and about, I make notes if I see something that looks interesting to me. An interesting light effect. I take a few photographs with my phone, and make a note of the time of day and weather conditions. Sometimes these notes inspire a plein air painting, or another visit for photographs and sketches.
When I go out specifically to scout enticing spots to paint, the best times are early or late in the day when the shadows are long and the light dramatic on the Klein River and on the mountains.
I like to work en plein air as much as possible, to immerse myself in the experience of the landscape while painting it.
The practical challenges of painting en plein air: the time constraints, weather and working in public, conspire to inject energy into my expressions, causing me to work quickly to capture the fleeting light.
If you are interested in places to paint en plein air near Stanford, click here for a list of beautiful options that are open to the public.
Whether I am working en plein air, or at home in my studio, I make sure to take a photograph or two of my chosen view. Even though I most often paint from life, I like to have a reference in case I am unable to finish the painting in the one session. The photos also help me try out different crops of the view and help me establish my parameters for starting off my value sketch.
Once I’ve chosen my composition, I usually do a three-value pencil sketch to map it all out. I take about 15-20 minutes to plan the painting out carefully, figure out which of the shapes fit where, and fill in the mid and dark values.