Since I was a little kid I have been bored with “scenery” pictures. My dad would show slides he took. I loved the ones with people in them, but he stared forever at the scenery shots. Because of that, I’ve been more interested in painting people, buildings, and cars than landscapes.
This may have changed last Sunday night when our son and his wife drove us on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia.
This painting portrays a typical scene along the drive. Note the atmospheric perspective as the mountains become bluer and more faded the further out they go. Then the lone tree stands starkly silhouetted in the foreground. These things give depth to the painting.
I will say I was charmed with the scenery.
Filed under My Inspiration by on Oct 15th, 2009. 5 Comments. 
I went fishing in a farm pond recently. While I tried to concentrate on catching something, my two grandchildren were hanging on my legs, jabbering away at me, asking if they could fish, if I could get them a worm on their hook, and telling me it was their turn to fish.
There are some painting techniques I wanted to mention. First, there is definite atmospheric perspective. You can see depth because the weeds are painted over the top of my grandson. This gives the illusion that the weeds are in front of him, while my granddaughter is painted on top of some other weeds. They look further away than she is.
The lake looks wet. It reflects the sky. I have painted a mirror image of the trees that are above the shore directly below. If you look at the clothes you can see shadows and highlights and some wrinkles. This keeps the objects from looking flat. There is dimension to them.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Oct 3rd, 2009. 3 Comments.
I’ve always loved the night lights on downtown city streets. Reflections from store fronts, traffic lights and overhead lights bounce off cars and sidewalks.
Notice the linear and atmospheric perspective. The front car is on the far right but the others end are displayed in a line going from right to left towards a vanishing point. The same thing is happening with the buildings. You will see a roof top at the top right which angles downward to the left and the overhead lights angle to the left. The cars. the roof and the lights all go to a vanishing point in the distance. This is linear perspective.
Atmospheric perspective is shown by the cars at the front being larger than the ones further back. Both types of perspective give depth to the painting. You have a feeling that you could walk down the street.
This painting is 18″ x 24″ and is for sale at $850.00. If you are interested in purchasing it, contact me on the email address on this site.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Sep 16th, 2009. 3 Comments.
I wasn’t going to put this painting on my blog, but my cousin Terri encouraged me to. It is a painting based on my vacation at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina earlier this year. I didn’t feel like it wasn’t up to my quality. It was accepted into a show recently when I submitted it as a fluke.
You will see I used atmospheric perspective. The closer persons are painted larger, while those further away are smaller. The closer ones are more clearly portrayed and those in the distance are less defined and the colors ared faded.
Maybe you will like it better than I thought. Who knows? If not, I’ll put something else up very soon.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Aug 7th, 2009. 2 Comments.
I love doing cityscapes! I love painting cars! This painting shows atmospheric and linear perspective. The atmospheric perspective is shown by having a big car nearest us with detail while the cars further away are smaller and less detailed. The same is true with the streetlights and trees. The linear perspective is shown because the street is wider at the front and goes narrower the further you go. Both types give depth to the painting.
Another technique used is reflected light. Look at the left side of the large white car. It has a pink glow on it from the road. Further ahead you’ll see some yellow windows in some of the vehicles. That is reflection from trees. Notice the road is painted deeper red in the shade, but a yellow shade in the sunlight.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Apr 12th, 2009. 3 Comments.
This is the finished product of my previous post “Frustration.” You’ll notice a strong sense of atmospheric perspective – the cornstalks are painted much larger than the barn, and they are painted much sharper while the barn is vague, giving an illusion of depth. The cornstalks on the left go off the canvas, giving a vertical anchor to the picture, while the horizon line gives a horizontal anchor. There is a strong contrast created by the organic shapes of the cornstalks, but the barn is rigid.
I need to mention that the cornstalk shapes were painted in a flowing motion. I didn’t work them hard, instead I squinted my eyes and just let emotion take over.
The painting looks much simpler than it actually was. It was worth the frustration and hard work required to complete it.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Mar 22nd, 2009. 7 Comments.
This painting is of Roy Gentry and Patty Wells. Roy is the person featured in my last post. They are sitting in Hinkle’s Hamburgers in Madison, Indiana. I have used both linear and atmospheric perspective. You can see the linear perspective when you look at the angle of the tables. The atmospheric perspective shows the closer items larger than the ones further away. The chairs that are closer are painted larger than the ones further back. Note the light on the sides of the tables and chairs. This shows the direction of the light. It come in from a window you don’t see. Also note the reflections on the top of the table.
Filed under Oil Painting Technique by on Mar 8th, 2009. 3 Comments.
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