SPARKS FLY

It’s good practice to try to see past the detail and reduce the elements down to their simplest forms….then build them up from there, being mindful of balancing colour, proportion, perspective, direction, shape, tone, rhythm.

It’s also an exercise in discipline, self-restraint…what is too much…what is too little…when to stop?

Branches need to come and go…they are in the center of the tree so you need the foliage to cut cross them and break up the lines.

I was resisting putting any detail on the building - as you can see in pic 3 below….but it needed some edges picking out, some light and shade to make it look less flat. Note- there are windows - but no window panes.

I could also have gone to town sprinkling autums leaves all over the grass - but held back so as not to detract from the tree itself.

Many of my loose initial transparent marks remain in the final painting.

Set up for a right handed person - the number of right handed students I see with their palettes, paints, brushes to the left of them! - discipline, preparation…all good practice.

Coarse texture from wiry oil brushes

Thick & thin paint. Making the most of the opportunity to place opposite colours next to each other: Blues next to oranges, Purples next to yellows.

You know you’re an artist when: a drainpipe and rubbish bin are gifts rather than unwanted distractions!

Beginning with my favourite scruffy brush!