Art Blog - Art In History

It is autumn in New England! That means it is both a wonderful and a dangerous time for plein air painters. Nature is begging you to capture her beauty, but also challenging you to compete with her brilliance. Fall color, perhaps more than any other subject, teaches you humility and caution, because it is a competition you will always lose.

At any time, the range of color and value in nature is far beyond the range available to the artist trying to represent it. Usually, nature's restraint allows us to compete, by using strong color to represent that which in nature is muted. It is relatively easy to set up a range of color and value which will represent what we see.

Autumn in New England is not so kind. There is a strong and deadly inclination to try to put colors down on canvas as you see them. When you do, you quickly reach the limits of your palette, and have nothing in reserve for the accents which will make the picture work.

Save your accents! Resist the tendency to compete, and don't put pure color on the canvas until the end, when you can decide where it should go. Time and again I have failed to take my own advice, and have ended with an image that shouts but does not sing. Avoid the scenes where there is no foil for the brilliant color; they are stunning but not useful.

Saving your accents is as important with light and dark as it is with color. Another of the moments in nature where it will lead you astray is winter, where snow is a field of white, but cannot be painted pure white if you want to be able to shows its modulations. The most brilliant lights will be a few spots where the sun is reflecting, and if you have nothing left you will lose those accents. Again, it is the urge to compete which is dangerous. Always know the limitations of your palette, and save the brightest and strongest until last.

COMMENTS

 

1

  ArtId Staff ( homepage )

11/03/2009 * 12:11:55

"Always know the limitations of your palette, and save the brightest and strongest until last." I'm going to put that on my bulletin board. Superb advice.

 

2

  mitchell

11/02/2009 * 10:49:07

I love this article ,it gives me an urge to grab a brush and break out the watercolors ,fantastic!

 

3

  Zander Lassen ( homepage )

10/18/2009 * 14:29:38

Hi Peter- Thanks for the great post, the paintings look wonderful- Zander

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