Landscape Painting: Using Color Creatively
Workshop | This program is completed
We will use plein air painting as our source of subject matter, taking the field studies back to the studio to make color interpretations of the landscape. By combining these field studies with intentional applications of specific color schemes the students will learn how to use color in a creative way to change the mood of the painting. At the end of the course the student will be empowered by an expanded sense of color. This class is intended for those who desire to strengthen both their plein air abilities and their ability to use color creatively. The class will spend half the time outdoors, and the other half in studio.
- Portable easel and transportation required.
- PANELS/CANVAS: 6 X 8, 8 X 10; (2) 16 x 20 panels, either canvas or gessoed, if you purchase the 16 X 20, buy the inexpensive ones, these will be marked off to make four 8 x 10 formats. I use Ray Mar and Source Tek linen panels, but you can use 1/8” gessoed panels (1/8”mdf or masonite) that you make yourself, or buy. You can also gessoe multi-media paper.
- SKETCHBOOK: A small (6x8) sketch book; a 6B pencil; Kneaded eraser. Set of felt pens in grays--values: low (black), mid-value, and high (not quite white); these pens should have two tips, one with a fine tip, the other with a broad tip. You can use a Sharpie for the black one.
- VIEW FINDER: Make a viewfinder out of black or gray mat board, or order from: View Catcher, 888-834-6165, or Art Supply Warehouse.
- GRAY SCALE& COLOR WHEEL: Gray Scale & Value Finder, and a small 4”Color Wheel, from Art Supply Wharehouse (ASW).
- BRUSHES: Hog bristle, good quality Flats or Filberts. Utrecht has a good value bristle, buy their top of the line in Nos. 6, 8 & 10, or Robert Simmons. If your budget allows it get some Nos. 2 & 4 also.
- PAINT: A limited palette of: Cadmium Yellow (pale or lemon; Alizarin Crimson; Cadmium yellow medium; Yellow Ochre; Veridian Green; Ultramarine blue; Cadmium red light; Cadmium Orange; Terra Rosa; Titanium white (large tube)** ; Ivory black; Cerulean Blue, not Cerulean Blue Hue; Quinacridone Magenta (optional); Dioxazine Purple (optional)
- ** No Permalba, buy any high quality professional grade white such as Utrecht, Gamblin, Dan Smith, Winsor & Newton, Holbien. Be aware that cheaper whites take much longer to dry, a problem when traveling!
- PALETTE OR PAINTING KNIFE: 1-1/4” or 1-1/2”.
- PALETTE: If you are using a French easel you will need a portable palette. You can use a piece of non-glare glass, or buy a folding palette such as Easel Pal from Artisan Santa Fe.
- ODORLESS THINNER,AND A LEAKPROOF BRUSH WASHER 8 oz. size. You can use a sealable plastic bottle at least 8 oz.. Buy Weber’s Turpenoid, or Gamsol odorless thinners, not odorless thinner from the hardware store!!!
- OUTDOOR SKETCH BOX, FRENCH EASEL, POCHADE BOX, OR OPEN BOX M.
- PAPER TOWELS OR RAGS. Nitrile gloves from Lowe’s paint dept., or your pharmacy (optional)
- TRASH BAGS, OR GROCERY BAGS FOR USED TOWELS.
- DRY BOX: You will want a dry box, this is a lidded box with slots for carrying wet paintings done on panels. You can improvise with a pizza box, or whatever will work to carry the wet panels.
- UMBRELLA : Get the kind that is made to attach to a French easel, or a small rain umbrella in a neutral color. Get a package of Mini stretch cords from Wal Mart (for fastening umbrella to easel.
- MISCELLANEOUS: Sunscreen, water bottle, wide brim hat, sturdy shoes, dark shirt, an extra bottle to dump your thinner in at the end of the day to recycle the next day.
- BOOKS TO READ: THE ART SPIRIT by Robert Henri; HAWTHORNE ON PAINTING by Charles Hawthorne; CARLSON’S GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING, John F. Carlson, (This one is great as a text book on landscape painting); THE COMPOSITION OF OUTDOOR PAINTING, by Edgar Payne, (more advanced than Carlson’s book, but excellent); ART and FEAR, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Read any other books that inspire you.
- SOURCES:
- Utrecht- 800-538-7111, Paint and brushes, sketchbooks, gesso, drawing media
- Art Supply Warehouse (ASW)- 800-995-6778, Paint, canvas, brush washers, umbrellas, brushes, easels.
- Open Box M- 303-887-9291, best source for portable pochade paint boxes, and accessories.
- Artisan Santa Fe- 800-331-6375, Easel Pal, dry boxes for wet panels. An assortment of other supplies.
- Ray Mar- 888-809-3314, for linen or cotton canvas mounted on I/8”panels. They also sell dry boxes at a very reasonable price.
- Before the Class: Write your personal philosophy as relates to art. This will be your feelings about art as it relates to your life and your artistic journey. Reading Henri and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays on Nature will help in this endeavor. This is for your own benefit, and it is very important to commit your philosophy to paper!
Ron Rencher
Ron Rencher received his BA in Fine Art from Southern Utah University and studied with Lowell Ellsworth Smith, Milford Zornes, Mark Daily, and Ned Jacob. A Signature member of PAPA, his work has been featured in the PBS series, “Plein Air: Painting the American Landscape,” and the books, "Enchanted Isle:A History of Plein Air Painting in Catalina Island", "Painters of Utah's Canyons and Deserts" and "Art of the National Parks". Rencher is represented by American Legacy Gallery, Kansas City, MO; Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio, TX; and Sage Creek Gallery, Santa Fe, NM. www.ronrencher.com