An Easy Tip for Painting Better Trees

'Serenity Bend'         11x14       pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available on Etsy $175

As soon as I saw it I knew what was wrong. My brain had done it again! It had taken over and happily organized all my tree trunks into neat, straight and even lines. It didn't stop there! My brain also decided that the spaces in between the tree trunks also needed to be neat and even.   What a fine job it did!  But this is one place that I don't want this side of the brain to take charge!

As Jove Wang reminded us during his demo at the Plein Air Convention "Even is Boring"

We certainly don't want BORING!  We need to jump in and take charge and mix things up a little!

Before the changes

Nice and even spacing between the trees

The photos above show the 'before' version of the painting. Notice the tree trunks. They are all lined up with straight trunks. The INTERVALS or spacing between the trees are also just about the same. Even = Boring! 

I returned to the painting with a mission....to break up the even spaces and make the negative spaces more interesting. I did this by changing the placement of some of the tree trunks. I also used the sky color to create more interesting shapes. Finally I changed some of the trees and bushed to break up the area and make a more interesting tangle of foliage.

Below is the result of my makeover. It captures better the feeling of the wildness of this place. It wasn't a cultivated garden so I didn't need it to be neat and organized.

TIP: Pay attention to what your brain is doing! It wants to put things in order yet we appreciate things that are interesting and unexpected. Take charge and remember that EVEN =  BORING!

Beach Week...How to Paint a Sunny Day

'Under the Palms'           9x12           pastel         ©Karen Margulis      $160 purchase here

It's Beach Week on the blog!  I have been working on some beach paintings and just had a class on painting the beach.  I had my students write down 2 questions they had about painting beach scenes. I got some great questions!  To celebrate summer I thought it would be fun to answer some of their questions on the blog. I will be posting the questions and answers for the next few days so be sure to check back!


Question One:  How do you get the feeling a warmth or sunlight in your beach paintings?

Good question! If you want your sunlit areas to really looked 'kissed by the sun' then it helps to pay attention to the values in the painting.  So that means making sure you have a contrast in your values.....your light areas will look lighter and brighter if they are next to a rich dark area.
Another thing to try is to make the areas in sunlight warmer and not necessarily lighter. For example notice the warm orange/peach colors on the right side of the tree trunks. I made sure to use a warm color rather than a pale peach....just because it is getting sunlight doesn't mean it will be lighter...make it warmer and it will look sunnier!
Here's another thing to try to get a sunnier painting.....WARM UNDERPAINTINGS!

A warm underpainting with thinned acrylics

Try toning your paper with a warm color such as yellow or orange. The warmth of these colors will peek through your pastel and give a nice bright and sunny feeling.  I took it a step further and did my drawing with red paint. I allowed the red to show through in spots in the finished painting again giving a look of sunshine and warmth. You can use many mediums for toning your paper. I used very thin acrylic paint on Uart paper.

Tomorrow I will share the answer to another beach question. I hope you'll check out all of my Beach Week posts!

Extreme Plein Air ...You Can Take Pastels Anywhere!

Miniature Pastels each 2.5 x 3.5 inches ©Karen Margulis

These paintings and 5 more are on ebay auction this week click here

Did you ever regret not having something to paint with when visiting a wonderful place? But you didn't bring any painting supplies because you didn't want to lug them around. I never travel without my pastels anymore because I have an Extreme Pastel Kit.
Keep it Simple. That's my goal when traveling with my pastels. I shared my 'Lounge Chair Plein Air' set up in an earlier post. Sometimes I want to pare down my paintings supplies even more. That's when I break out my Extreme Plein air pastel box. It is actually a small box that I include in my lounge chair set-up. I just take this box with me on excursions or trips when I don't want to carry a lot or only have a purse or small bag.

My Extreme Plein Air Pastel Kit

So what exactly is in my Extreme Plein Air Kit? Have a look.

1. I use a small wood art box. It measures 8 x 4.5 x 1.5. I lined the bottom and lid with upholstery foam and glued it down. I purchased my box at Aaron Brothers but you can use any small sturdy box. I have used cigar boxes but I really love this small size. I put a rubberband around it just in case!
   
2. Pastels: I filled my box with an assortment of hard pastel sticks like Nupastels and Polychromos. I break them so I have smaller pieces. I fit more colors this way. I also add some small pieces of Girault pastels. These pastels are firm but surprisingly soft. They hold up well and come in handy when I want the effect of a softer pastel. They are also thin and narrow so don't take up as much space as other soft pastels. How do I choose my colors? As you can see from my photo I have a random selection because I love the challenge of making a painting work with what I have on hand.....but if I were restocking this box I would try to have a light, medium and dark value of each color on the color wheel. I would add a black and white to change the value of any color.
3. Small piece of foamcore for a drawing board to attach my paper.
4. Washcloth to wipe pastels clean (they will get dusty in this box)
5. A small zipper pouch for misc supplies such as tape or clips,pencil,travel baby wipes,maybe a small travel size watercolor kit.
6. A plastic envelope of precut paper.
7. A magazine or brochure to store finished paintings.I have made small folders of sheets of glassine for finished work but I like using a small travel guide/magazine just as well.
8. That's all! These items fit nicely into a purse/bag or mini backpack. Or slip them into a gallon size ziploc and when you are headed out just grab the bag and go!
   

Close-up of my Extreme Plein Air Pastel Box

'Bahama Breeze' 3.5 x 2.5" pastel

With this small kit packed and always ready to go with me I never have those feelings of regret when I find myself in a paint-able location without my pastels! This is one of the paintings I did while relaxing on the beach in the Bahamas. I will bring this small kit along out to the Plein Air Convention in Las Vegas next month but I am also going to bring a larger cigar box filled with Southwest/Red Rock colors. I'll be posting more on this soon.

Caribbean Breeze

'Caribbean Breeze' 8x10 pastel

It's been awhile since I've painted a Caribbean scene and I've missed it! I love that turquoise water. I have a few more scenes I want to paint including some from Magen's Bay. This is the first winter that we don't have a cruise planned and I know I am going to miss that winter get away.

I am working on putting my blog paintings into easily searchable catagories. You can see the list on the side bar. It will take awhile since I have to go back and add tags to every painting but it will be so much easier to browse through catagories of my paintings.

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