Hill Country Fence Line - Demo Process Shots

Hill Country Fence Line, 8 x 10, oil, L. Daniel

Workshop Demo - SOLD

What happens when it rains at a plein air workshop? Well, we take shelter inside and work from photographs. It often works out to be a valuable time to cover some concepts in more depth.

On the third day of my workshop in Wimberley we had torrential rain... I mean, this was serious Texas thunder and lightening, and a literal downpour! It was pretty dramatic and cozy to be inside, but we worried just a bit when the creek started to rise. Our sweet inn keepers moved our cars to higher ground, "just to be on the safe side". Thankfully, all was well in the end, and we just kept painting through it all. :)

Below are process shot of my demo from that day:

 Compose/Block-in large Shapes and Values

Mass-in Upright Planes – Shadow Family

 Mass-in Upright Planes – Light Family

 Mass in Ground Plane and Sky Plane

Break up Masses and Add Highlights

Some Final Notes to my intrepid Students:

Remember to work dark to light, and thin to thick (dryer, not runny).

Values get cooler/lighter and contrast weakens as elements recede in the distance.

Save small details (like the fence) and brightest highlights until the very end. 

Texas Landscape - Workshop Value Study Demo

Texas Landscape, 6 x 8, oil, L. Daniel © 2018

Value Study Demo for Wimberley Artist Workshops

Last week, I had the privilege of teaching a group of fabulous painters in Wimberley, Texas. This was a four-day workshop with the Wimberley Artists Workshops, and it was an all-inclusive, total immersion set up. It's a such great way to go... beautiful accommodations at the Creekhaven Inn, with  all meals taken care of... we were completely free to just paint and learn!

We started out the first day with a value study in the morning, and then painted the same thing in color after lunch. It was a great exercise, until the winds picked up in the afternoon... all but two of our easels blew over, and it was a bit of a battle. But no one gave up!! And that is the risk of plein air, right? You never know what is going happen! 

The value study was designed to help students learn about atmospheric perspective... to see how values diffuse in the distance, and to learn to incorporate that change to give depth to their paintings. We started out mixing a range of grays... 

5 mixed values plus white and black

(We mixed a rich black with ultramarine and burnt sienna.)

First came a sketch of the scene.

I looked for layers going into the distance.

Next came the grays... 

 Working dark to light...

The sky (where the lightest lights are) comes last.

In the finished value study...

Notice how each plane lightens and softens as it gets farther away.

The foreground has darkest darks and greatest contrast.

In the distance, values come together and contrast goes away.

Below are pictures of my students, hard at work! 

Many thanks to all, especially to Judy and Jocelyn for sharing your photos!