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| This painting was
first done as an on-the-spot demonstration during a painting holiday in
south west France. It shows a crooked timber house in the centre of
a small village called Montbrun Bocage. The warped timbers which are
often not horizontal make the perspective even more challenging,
especially when the group's vantage point was from inside the market place
which is below road level. The wood, plaster and tiles of these buildings would probably all be described as 'brown' by most of us, so care must be taken to pick out the rich colours that make up those browns to avoid the painting becoming drab and monochrome. This version of the demonstration is painted with more
detail and is based on the issues which arose when students tackled this
project. You can click on the images to see a larger version (will
open in a new window). |
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| The sky is quickly painted with pure Cobalt Blue. A loose and thin wash of Raw Sienna with a touch of Permanent Alizarin Crimson is applied all over the walls and timber. |
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| The roof tiles are indicated
with Burnt Sienna with touches of French Ultramarine to give the
impression of shape and shadow. Although in real life these stand
out strongly against the sky when focused on with the naked eye (and even
more when looking at a photograph) the shapes were kept deliberately soft
and indistinct to stop the viewer's eye being dragged to them. The wood and beams under the eaves are painted with the same colours. The beams are painted while the paint underneath is damp so that they soften and again do not present eye catching hard lines. Remember that this area is in shadow so shapes will be indistinct. |
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| Now it is time to start on the
timber on the front of the house. When faced with this sort of
building many beginners (and even some experienced painters) are tempted
simply to fill in a pattern of lines with a pre-mixed brown. This
misses the variation in colour and tone and produces a flat, unconvincing
and, worst of all, dull painting. Even more dangerous is the impulse
to use Burnt Umber on its own because it looks 'the right sort of brown'.
Burnt Umber, though invaluable in mixes, is very drab on its own and can
kill a painting dead if over used. In this demonstration the timbers are carefully and slowly painted with a varying combination of Burnt Umber, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine and Winsor Violet. Care is taken to notice where the timbers appear pale or dark, from weathering or from the bright sunlight reflecting on them. |
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| This detail shows the variety in paint application. |
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| The rest of the woodwork is
painted in appropriate shades and mixes of Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Raw
Sienna, French Ultramarine and Winsor Violet. The panelling on the
shutters is indicated with careful observation of the lines of shadow.
Notice the bottom shutters of the central house where highlights have also
been left (click on the image to see closer). This all takes
observation and looking at what is there rather than making assumptions. The windows are painted in Cobalt Blue and mixes of French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber, depending on the reflections, curtains etc that are visible. Again, this is all about painting what you see, not what you think glass or windows look like. |
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| Final details are added.
The grey for the swinging ironwork signs is mixed from French Ultramarine
and Winsor Violet with a touch of Burnt Umber. The pots at the front
of the house are painted simply in Burnt Sienna with Winsor Violet
shadows. The greenery is painted with a mix of Lemon Yellow and
Cobalt Blue and some cheerful Cadmium Red geraniums were added even though
the real pots did not have flowers (what is the point of a painting if you
can't improve on reality!). A little Cobalt Blue is brushed over
areas where the plaster is grey and stained. The road is painted with a mix of Winsor Violet and Cobalt Blue with a second stronger layer being painted along the edge of the pavement when the first layer was dry. Note the narrow unpainted line which indicates the pavement surface. There was no need to paint in the shadow cast by the roof of the market place under which we were sitting as the picture would make sense and be believable without it, but the diagonal shape serves as a counterpoint to the perspective diagonals of the building and helps stop the eye sliding off to the bottom right hand side, so it was painted with a grey made by adding some Burnt Umber to the road colour. |
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| Finally the cast shadows are
painted on the building with Winsor Violet. Note the small gaps left
in the shadows under the eaves which are where sun gets through between
the tiles and gutter. This all adds to the feeling of a bright sunny
day. The finished painting also shows that it is not necessary
slavishly to replicate every unimportant or unattractive detail; the white
van in the photo at the top of this page was parked in that spot the whole
day we were there, but there was never any question of including it in the
painting. Crooked House in Montbrun - © Jane Duke 2011 |
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All images and site content
copyright © Jane Duke 2004-2012 |
