early morning
photo

late morning
photo

Here is an example of what I encountered. I took the first photo at the beginning of the painting session, around 9:00 a.m. I took the second photo about two hours later. The switch from the lighting conditions of the first photo to the lighting of the second photo happened very suddenly a little after 10 a.m.

When I got home, I found a utility at the U. S. Naval Observatory that will calculate the altitude and azimuth of the sun at specified intervals for any location on any day. This is a very handy tool for learning how to predict shifts in outdoor lighting. Later in the day, I returned to the cemetery with compass and an azimuth table in hand and realized that the tables confirmed what I had observed while painting.

Working outdoors in the summer, there are 4 ways an object can be lighted. Assuming that a building is on a north/south axis*, the lighting changes when the azimuth of sun reaches 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees. In the winter and early spring, the sun crosses the 90 and 270 degree thresholds before sunrise or after sunset. Here are a few illustrations of these phases of light:

Sunrise to 90 degrees

The north and east sides of a building are in sunlight. In early July in Atlanta, this stage lasts from sunrise to 10:20 a.m.

90 degrees to 180 degrees

The east and south sides of a building are in sunlight. This stage lasts from 10:20 a.m. to 1:40 p.m.

180 degrees to 270 degrees

The south and west sides are in sunlight. This stage lasts from 1:40 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.

270 degrees until sunset

The west and north sides are in sunlight. This stage lasts from 5:10 p.m. until sunset.

* - Note: If the building is not on a north/south axis, it is still easy to calculate when the light will change. Simply figure out how many degrees the building is oriented from north, and then add or subtract that interval to the light shift intervals. For example, the north side of my house is actually about 26 degrees west of north. To figure out when there will be a major light shift, I subtract 26 from 90, 180, and 270 respectively, and then read the azimuth table. (return to text)

What Went Wrong, and what to do about it next time

The drawing was sloppy, but I'll forgive myself for that. I was actually more interested in a reasonably quick value study than in fine draftsmanship yesterday. On to the other issues:

Value

I generally have more success when I establish a strong middle or dark value up front, rather than working from light to dark. The challenge comes in deciding which value to establish first. In this painting, I started with the light yellow/green around the plants, which was probably a mistake. Then I made the greens in the left side of the paintings too dark. I didn't establish my darkest values until the end of the painting. So, what what lessons did I learn?

• Establish a large area of a middle or dark value early on in the process, preferably in an area that I can go back and glaze later. Clear skies are ideal because they are easy to correct later.
• I should have established the darks, the tombstone and the tree trunks, sooner. If I had already established the value of the tree trunks, then I would have known immediately that the background leaves were too dark.

Composition

Composition problems usually turn out to be value problems in disguise. The paintings tend to work better when I play back and forth between what I observe and what I think the abstract design should be. In yesterday's painting, I was much too concerned with trying to capture exactly what I saw.

Color

Although I usually don't squawk too much about color, color was a problem yesterday. (Or was it actually a value problem?) The tombstone and foreground were muddy, even though it was a single wash. Perhaps I should try to darken the tombstone? I'm not sure whether the failure was a value problem or a color problem.

The ninety-plus degree heat and a code red smog alert made the working conditions less than pleasant. The actual sky was light and hazy; I darkened it considerably after I got home.

My palette for this paint was raw sienna, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, and ultramarine blue.

This lion was a rework of another lion I did a couple of days earlier. In the first attempt, I had a lot of trouble placing the image on the page. He kept winding up smaller than I had originally intended.

Step 1: Working out a Battle Plan

The subject was a white statue in shadow. The challenge was to get the statue dark enough to read as a shadow and light enough to contrast with the background.

I made some mistakes in the drawing. I had wanted to get the base of the statue up a little higher on the page, but it didn't turn out that way. In other circumstances, I might have erased everything and redrawn it, but the weather was getting hot and the bright sunlight was inching ever closer to my work surface. I opted to proceed with what I had.

Step 2: Establishing a Strong Value

After a *very* light wash of nickel azo yellow and raw sienna in parts of the background, I started in with a strong wash of raw umber, burnt sienna, and ultramarine violet for the tree limbs and the foreground. I made what I thought was a very dark wash.

Step 3: Going for a Darker Value

Next, I wanted the leaves to be as dark as I could make them. Judging against the value I had already established for the tree trunk and foreground, I used thalo blue, burnt sienna, and nickel azo yellow to make the dark green leaves. I added a few drops of gum arabic to my palette to keep the heavy paint fluid as I was working. I made sure to paint carefully around the silhouette of the statue.

Step 4: Painting the Statue

With the medium-dark and dark values established, I was ready to try the statue. Getting the value of the statue right the first time was critical. Taking two tries at the value would almost certainly make the painting labored and overworked. The statue needed to be substantially lighter than the dark of the leaves, but still darker than the full light. I laid in a wash of raw sienna, quinadridone rose, and ultramarine violet. The wash was just a little too dark at the top and I tried to adjust as I went down the page. I wish I had made the wash a little more even.

Step 5: Adjustments and Final Details

After I finished the statue and a few suggestions of trees in the background, I fixed a few things that were bothering me.

I decided that the leaves needed to come down a little lower on the left side of the painting. The big problem, though, was that some of my original darks were simply not dark enough. I made a second pass at some of the leaves and the foreground. In the final stage, I also added the suggestion of the wrought iron fence behind the statue. Although there was indeed a fence behind the statue, I'm not sure that it was a good idea to put it into the painting.

Step 6: Retouching at Home

The big picture is the last picture I took in the field. I may make some minor adjustments at home this evening. I'm not sure yet.

Lessons Learned

... or what I would do differently next time.

• Hitting the strong value at the beginning was important. If I had not been able to judge against the darker values, I am fairly certain I would have made the statue too dark.
• Running the statue off the bottom of the page bothers me. I should have measured more carefully in the beginning.
• The end of the fence and the right side of the tree trunk are almost tangent to one another. I didn't notice that until after I got home. Hmmm.... I'm not sure what to do about it.
• I'm wondering if I could have had some dappled light on the statue. Although I didn't see any light except for a small rim at the top of her head, a touch of pure light may have helped .... or not. I'll try it sometime in the future and see what happens.

Materials and Technique

I used Arches 140# Rough paper from a 12 x 16 block.

My palette was:

• Raw sienna
• Burnt sienna
• Cobalt blue
• Ultramarine violet
• Thalo turquoise
• New Gamboge

• 12 whole pans in a metal box
• 1 1/2" flat brush
• Round kolinsky sable travel brushes: #6,#8,#10,#12.
• Small, flat nylon brush for loosening paint.
• Paper towels/kleenex
• water bottle (I use a 1-quart nalgene bottle for backpackers.)
• Small spray bottle with water
• Pencil -- usually an F or B hardness (with a cheap plastic sharpener)
• Kneaded rubber eraser
• Watercolor block, 12x16 is a convenient size for me.
• Sketchbook
• Sunscreen
• Insect repellent
• Floppy hat to keep the sun out of my eyes

All of this goes into a small backpack that folds out into a seat.

Don't try to paint in full sun. Look for a spot with some shade. This will make it easier to judge value and color. If you can't avoid the sun, it's a good idea to use a white or gray umbrella to keep the sunlight off your paper.

* When you are getting started, try doing watercolor sketches of simple things -- maybe a single flower or a leaf or a tin can -- instead of a whole painting. You'll have enough of a challenge getting accustomed to working outside -- washes dry really fast, light can be strange, the wind blows. Don't set the bar too high at first.