Quick update on skies

This is just a quick update to an earlier blog. In The question of skies I asked whether or not users of Photos4artists would like to see skies in the galleries. This is just a quick update to assure those who said they would, that skies are being added as and when the grey disappears.

As well as photos included in the miscellaneous galleries in photos4artists, a gallery dedicated to skies can be found at http://www.freedigitalimages.co.uk/Skies.html. It's early days, but I can assure you that many photos will be added over the coming months.

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The Shadows

Nothing is more frustrating than stepping back to view your finished painting (when it's dried of course) and realising that you have failed to achieve a satisfactory sense of depth.

I think I've already mentioned the beauty of the foreground shadow in pushing back the horizon. Another way to achieve the same effect is to paint in a dark cloud(s) overhead.

An often made error when painting shadow is forgetting to maintain your tonal values. It's so easy to use the same well of paint for all your shadows, with the result that distant shadows dry as dark as your foreground shadows. Adding water will lessen the strength, but wouldn't adding a cool or warm colour depending where you put the shadow look so much better.

In the photo on the right you will see that the shadow of the line of ferns is by far the darkest. Note the horizontal line of shadow running from the ferns to the left side. You don't need to start with your darkest tone at the very bottom. Any darker or warmer object or line near to the bottom of your picture (your foreground) will help you achieve a sense of depth.

One last point: photos don't always show shadows as being lighter as they recede. The camera is infinitely better at capturing a scene than we are, so we can be sure that they probably do. It's just that we aren't able to grasp such a small shift in the tone. To be certain  your viewers do see and appreciate this change in your painting it might be necessary to exaggerate the tone in your shadows.

ps Thanks for pointing out the typo, John. I've corrected it now (and given this post a slight rewrite). I can't see for looking sometimes, so if you see any more please let me know.

Keeping perspective in perspective

What is perspective?

In simple terms, perspective provides various ways for an artist to create the illusion of depth on an otherwise one dimensional surface.

Aerial perspective, a term first coined by Leonardo da Vinci describes the act of recession. Colour fades and contrast weakens the further away the object. It's nothing we didn't already know, but sometimes we need to be reminded.

A camp fire at its height will appear red, yellow or orange, but most of all it will appear warm. As the fire dies the colours fade and eventually all that remains is grey or white ash. Basically no colour at all. Now imagine sitting in front of that fire. It will feel hot - let's face it, the hotter it is the closer it will feel. Stay in the same place and when the fire has died and cooled and it will seem much further away.

Let's translate this into art . . .

Focus on your centre of interest

Unless very abstract every painting would benefit from a focal point or centre of interest. The trick is make sure your chosen focal point doesn't melt into the backround.

In many pictures the focal point will be obvious. It's probably why you chose that particular subject to paint. Take the photo on the left: what else apart from the rowing boats could you choose as your focal point?

Losing one boat to avoid competition or toning down the colours on the lighter boat to lessen the rivalry might help. It's your decision.

The fishing boat on the right sits in the centre and is clearly the focal point, but could you improve the emphasis?

Make your colours work for you

What is colour and how does it affect your painting?

There is no simple answer. Remove the colour and obviously all that remains is a black, white and grey image. Is that a limited palette? Probably not. You'd have little more than a tonal sketch and unless you were famous and probably dead your painting with have little value. Black and white or sepia might work in photography, but probably not in a painting.

Don't reject the limited palette though. Mixing a greater or lesser amount of just two or three colours

in most or all of your strokes or washes creates harmony. Choose transparent, not opaque colour and you will also avoid mud and produce a refreshing and vibrant work of art.

Colour creates mood. We all know that warm colours are uplifting and that cool colours are melancholic, but there's much more to producing mood than plastering on a wash of red or blue. For instance, is a predominantly cool painting with a splash of warmth a cool painting? Not necessarily. The final result depends on so many aspects. But what is true is that you are unlikely to achieve your intended effect unless you have planned your colour scheme first.

It's not just wine in Burgundy

You don't need to be a Francophile to love Burgundy. Think rural England with sunshine and you are halfway to knowing Burgundy.

Calais to Troyes is just 250 miles and will take about four hours on roads England can only dream about. You'll have to pay a toll to travel on the A26 peage, but for a relaxed and relatively traffic free journey it's money well spent.

You won't be too thrilled with the scenery until you reach Troyes as there isn't really much to distinguish it from any run of the mill scenery anywhere else. Best to close your eyes and wait until Troyes before forming an opinion.

Once you reach Troyes come off the toll road and head south through Tonnerre (after a few nights in Burgundy you'll understand why Tonnerre is French for storm) and down to Noyers. If cobbled streets and arched mediaeval buildings are your thing then you are in for a treat. Seek out Place de l'hotel de ville for a particular artist's and photographer's delight.

Three into One does go

Apart from clarity and detail high resolution photos have another distinct advantage over smaller images and that is the ability to find another painting opportunity within the same photo.

Crop a smaller image and all you have left is one that's even smaller and might as well be viewed through frosted glass. Clearly not every photo offers the opportunity for a multiple crop, but plenty do. This photo of a manor house in Burgundy is an example of one that does. The original photo has good composition; the darker yet smaller tower in the middle providing the balance for the larger but lighter building on the right. And when you have exhausted your creative juices with your own rendition of a photo why not see if you can paint another similar, yet different picture.

What is inspiration?

Tough one this. My most immediate thought is Alwyn Crawshaw. My dictionary, however, describes inspiration as being ‘someone or something that gives you ideas for doing something’ or a ‘good idea’. But what does that mean in terms of everyday life?

What exactly is good composition?

Where do you start? Well, it would probably be easier to demonstrate bad composition. After all, if you like the look of a picture and it tickles all the right bits, then it must have good composition. True, but if you want a better than even chance that other people will also like your picture then you should at least try to follow some of the rules of composition.

Why I love the Yorkshire Dales

As a Londoner, I love the countryside most, followed by the fresh air, the silence, the lack of cars, the lack of speed cameras and the lack of road humps, all in fast succession . . . and, of course, I like the photo opportunities.

To view photos of Yorkshire please look here.

For a start, we don't have many streams like this down south. The stone bridges are mostly quaint, picturesque or photogenic. Describe them how you like - it all means the same thing. Water or cotton mills are a rare sight in London, but seem to be in abundance in the Dales and the stone barns are fantastic. I even quite like the accent.

A trip to Languedoc

If you fancy a short break in Languedoc, whether to take photos, paint or just to see the sights I hope the following will be of some help.

How to use the search boxes

I am often asked how to find images on the site quickly, without needing to browse through the entire site.

To quickly search photos4artists or related sites use the search box on the gallery index page. Just type in boats, for example, press enter or click on the search button and you will be taken to a list of all pages or folders that contain images of boats.

However, to search the entire Internet, you should use the search boxes found in the miscellaneous gallery pages. Type in boats or whatever you wish to search for, press enter or click on the search button and you will be taken to the main Google site and from there the world is yours to browse.

I understand this can be confusing, but with limited resources I am afraid that at the moment this is just about the only way I can offer a search facility.

The question of skies

Does anyone want or need photos of skies?

Let's face it, all you need to do is go to a window, look up and there it is! You can't really miss it.

The problem with that, as I imediately know by looking out the window, is that the plain grey sky stretching from east to west and north to south isn't actually the sort of sky I would like to paint. Another problem is that even on those days when it isn't two tone grey, the sky is often one of boring cloud with little to interest anyone.

So, photos of skies would be a welcome addition, wouldn't they? The trouble is that I really don't know. It's easy enough to paint a sky from memory? A simple wash, white clouds rendered by soaking out of the colour using a sponge or a tissue. Simple.

But let's say, for example, that you want to paint a snowscape and a wash of blue with a few towering columns of cummulo-nimbus doesn't really give the right atmosphere. What can you do now?

I seem to remember, while walking the dog one snowy morning, that the sky was especially interesting and seemed to fit in perfectly with the snow on the ground. To be honest, if I'd seen a photo of that particular sky I would have known immediately that it was a cold winter's day. But now, of course, I can't remember how it looked at all. How I wish I'd taken that photo!

If anyone else feels this way then please let me know. My current way of thinking is that there isn't really enough interest in photos of skies to justify publishing them. If I'm wrong, tell me and I'll do something about it.

Requests for subjects

You will, I hope, have noticed that requests for the types of subjects you want to seen on the website are comprehensively welcomed. Some of you who have made requests will also be aware that your requests might not yet have been fulfilled.

A good example of this apparent oversight is a recent request for photos of horses. Living on the edge of London the opportunities for taking photos of horses are, at best, fairly limited. It hasn't helped that almost every horse I've seen over the past few months has been wearing a coat - I'm reasonably sure I've even seen some wearing boots and hats! Can't blame them for that, but such deviant fashion sense doesn't really help the photographer who wants to shoot natural looking animal photos. When the weather warms up and we all shed our coats, horses and humans alike, the photos will start to appear.

Flowers are another frequently requested subject. As I can't blame the weather for the lack of flowers on the site, I'll have to resort to blaming the lack of the proper lighting - that and a lack of the space required to show flowers off the way they should be shown. That will change. I hope to sort out a proper studio, with proper lighting and the proper background very soon. As soon as it happens I'll post that info on the blog.

Welcome to the photos4artists blog

Times change and we must all move on or be left behind. This blog replaces the time consuming and difficult to organise newsletters.

A blog will hopefully achieve all the above and provide interested viewers with up to date information and a way to make instant comments or suggestions.

If I am honest, the challenge of sending out newsletters by email won't be missed.