Preparatory Sketch
preempts future difficulties
Hi Friends, sharing the next step in my journey prior to beginning a larger cloudscape painting. In this post I discuss and explore the reasons behind painting a study before investing time into a larger format. Thanks for following along! xx
In September, I painted a cloud study in Caribou/Munroes Island Provincial Park. It was a beautiful sunny morning with billowy clouds floating about in a cobalt sky. The light hitting the grassy area was eye catching. I especially loved how long tree shadows contrasted with sunlit areas.
The cloud study I painted as well as many others over the season proved to be valuable resources for both my study and larger painting. I was so happy to have them as references for both the structure and color of clouds. They also evoked memories of what I felt and witnessed while I was working on location.
I decided to paint a study that was in scale with the size of the larger panel I was going to use. My panel is 24x30in. so I painted my study on an 8x10in. sheet of arches oil paper. Although arches oil paper does not need to be prepped, I rolled on a layer of Gamblin’s Oil Ground to make the paper less absorbent.
If I was going to invest hours into painting on a large birch panel, I felt it was important and beneficial to create a study. I usually paint from life and don’t normally use photographs. But in this case, it would be really difficult to carry out my vision on a larger panel on location due to the elusive and ever-changing nature of clouds.
Painting a study as reference for my larger painting enabled me to work out compositional problems and how I wanted the viewers eye to move around the painting once completed. I did use photographs for my study, mainly to view the land mass and cloud shapes I witnessed while there.
Once I finished my study, I realized I wanted to zoom out a bit more to create more sky area on the top portion of the larger painting. With the help of my son, we superimposed a photo of my study on top of a photograph of the area I painted.
We even split my study along the treeline so that it would fit better on top of the photograph. I drew a grid on both my large wood panel and this scaled version of what I was going to paint. This enabled me to sketch my scene more accurately onto the larger panel.
I have now begun my larger painting and I must say I am super pleased that I took the time to create a study beforehand. Although I am not following my study verbatim, it is leading the way as I begin my larger painting.
Summary of key points:
Observing clouds in real life on an ongoing basis helps one grow attune to their structure and subtle shifts in value.
Painting studies of clouds on location enables one to test out the knowledge acquired from observation, as well as support an intuitive response.
Displaying painted studies in my studio helps evoke memories of being on location —-thus triggering an emotional response.
Painted studies are far superior color references as compared to photographs. Unless you are a professional photographer, photographs often miss subtle shifts in color/value that can be seen with the naked eye.
Painting a study to inform larger work is an excellent use of time and helps eliminate problems with composition etc. It creates a visual road map.
I hope you enjoyed these behind the scene thoughts and images as I move into this larger piece of work. In a future post, I’ll share images and thoughts on the larger piece based on the study shared in this post.
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!
Warmly,
Debbie xx
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i like that you are explaining the process and providing guidance.
Great advice, thanks for sharing! Your "studies" are beautiful little paintings all on their own!