Tag: landscape

Mastercopy: Andre Derain’s “Landscape Near Chalou”

Above is a copy of Derain’s painting, ca 1904, done during his Fauve period. In an online class I am taking, we are encouraged to copy the work of a master artist, new or old, and learn from the experience. This is the second I have done, and certainly one I would not have really considered just because it is so bright! But, the colors and composition caught my eye, and off I went.

The first thing I did was to grid it onto paper. Derain’s work is obviously oils as acrylics did not exist in 1904. I used acrylics on ungessoed paper. As I moved along, looking more carefully, I think he underpainted his canvas with raw sienna or yellow ochre – you can see such colors along the bottom of his painting.

This painting took me probably about 8 hours. I gridded the image, which is about 11.5×17 inches, whereas the original is about 18×22 inches. Then I painted the basic shapes and colors yesterday morning.

This took a lot of time! I am glad I did a grid as the overall areas to be painted were fairly apparent as to shape. What they were – well, some leave me wondering. However, colors are shapes, and Fauvism is not reality, so I could do a bit of my own interpretation, too.

Next, I began to define areas as well as correct mistakes, such as my lopsided building in the lower left side. My paint was thicker, too. Below is this morning’s work.

After lunch, I aimed to complete my copy of Derain’s painting. As I moved along, I looked at Derain’s brushwork. There is a very graphic quality about his painting, which is very pleasing, but the brushwork, too, is fascinating. I did try to emulate it a bit, not just dabbing, but trying to see when he did a dab, a long horizontal push, and so on. Easier to do than to describe!

My final work really does please me. I love the bright colors. My limited palette worked pretty well and there was joy in mixing colors. I usually tend toward more “natural” colors, but the truth is I am a magpie at heart, and bright colors always do get my attention and make me happy. That is an emotional reaction. Classical paintings, though, do appeal to me. Copying a master is opening doors to me and leading me into areas I have never explored.

My final copy of Derain’s masterpiece:

In the Alabama Hills #1

A decidedly more fussy painting than I usually do, but is also a fairly chromatic painting. The primary colors are yellowish greens and grays. More color planes with a few more details.

In a lot of ways this was a more “serious” painting than my trees of yesterday. I plotted more. I did a sketch, a value study, and carefully placed my lines and considered the composition. Steps were thought out on how to approach the painting process itself since there is a lot of plain, white paper left in varying spots.

First step was to lay down a light wash of a neutral color, painting around the white areas at the tops of the plants and a few areas of the rocks. Then, light colors of the plants were added to remind me where they were. In general, I worked light to dark – standard watercolor – but then more intuitively I moved into dark areas while other areas were still covered with the first wash. I needed to establish values and found this worked out fairly well.

Another thing I took into consideration was the paper. This is the 100% cotton student paper I have, and I know it cannot handle a lot of water. Consequently, my washes were not wet and sopping. The light washes I applied were watery, but before picking up the watery wash from the palette, I squeezed or blotted the extra water from the brush, picked up the wash, and then applied it to the paper. It worked as the paper did not get really wet.

The rocks were hard to do. Part of me wanted to be fussy and detailed – hence the dots on the rocks and boulders closer to the viewer – and other parts just wanted to use planes and strokes of color to express their dimensionality. That is something I will try on another version of this painting and on paper that can handle a lot of water.

So, the planes of color continue, even in a more complex painting. I rather like this one as the backlit plants are so pretty, whether painted or in real life, and the pathway itself is alluring. Nothing like a hike in the desert . . .

Oasis

Today I decided to just paint and take it from there. No prelim sketch, some reference to this or that, but the point was to just paint and see what happens. It is really practice, and here I used oils. I just need to get comfortable with them and how they handle. That was the whole point of today’s painting. I think I will do more of these, just for practice. The masterpieces can wait.

Oil, 12×12, cotton canvas panel.

The Other Side

The Other Side

With spring here, the hills are green instead of brown, there are flowers by the roadsides, and we have been enjoying 50+ F for several weeks – more to come, and perhaps even rain! Living in a dry land is dull at times, and as it becomes dryer, it becomes duller. So, when the poppies and lupines bloom, it is indeed a time to celebrate.

I came to Wildwood Park looking for them. Did I miss them? I think I must have, but I have seen them along a nearby road.

Despite that, it was good to get out. I took one of our dogs, too; they always enjoy an outing. Today was cool enough for a jacket and shoes and socks. The wind kept blowing my hair into my face and sometimes I would line up a shot only to see my hair in the viewfinder instead of whatever.

Here, I am one side of a deep ravine while the houses in the distance are on the other side, easily a half mile or so from my viewpoint. The bottom of the ravine is a creek which fills with flood waters and can easily kill anyone foolish enough to be in it – a few people have died over the years when the winter rains come. Today, no rain, but the sky was rather leaden, the breeze quirky, and the day just glorious.

High Desert Creek

More gouache, which I really get a lot of satisfaction in using. Here in the west, there are dry bed creeks which fill with water when it rains, creating a potentially dangerous situation with flash floods and scary fast waters. This is a bit of a calmer situation, but with the monsoon season, the potential threat is there.

Gouache, 8×10.