Friday, May 18, 2018

Will that van stay parked?

It's grocery day, so while Jeanette does the hunting and gathering, I am out in the parking lot scouting for a new slice of ordinariness.

Here's a short video (link to video on Facebook).


I use two tripods, one for the sketch easel, and the other for the camera, which is held out on an extension bar. The camera I'm using is a Canon EOS M6 mirrorless, which has a built in time lapse function.


Here's my setup (product links below). The casein underpainting color is just a random page; I didn't paint it for this particular composition. I just like to have a few pre-primed page in the book. The priming gives unexpected energy to the colors.



The sky is overcast, making the sky flat and nearly white. With overcast lighting, there's no clear light side or shadow side. On the van, the planes that face more upward receive more light from the sky and are therefore lighter. I liked the fact that the white on the hood of the van was the brightest white in the composition.
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Resources
The brushes are from a pocket travel brush set and I'm painting in a Pentalic Aqua Journal with gouache over the casein underpainting. Everything is attached to the homebuilt sketch easel. I made a video explaining how to make one.
Full-length painting tutorials on GouacheCasein, and Watercolor.

8 comments:

Daroo said...

Great painting but I especially love the filmmaking and the visual gag of the truck driving out of your painting!
#funwithtransitions

Ruth Squitieri said...

Can't get enough of your spectacular paintings made from ordinary scenery. Looks excellent! And yeah, nice touch with the van driving away at the end ;-)

nuum said...

Mr. Gourney,

You had to show it to the driver.

It is beautiful.

Paulo
Rio

Steve said...

As always, Jim, your words are as elegant as your painting: hunting and gathering...slice of ordinariness...unexpected energy. I'll refrain from saying anything about giving us the opportunity to see a van go.

James Gurney said...

Vincent Van Go -- Good one, Steve. I hadn't thought of that.

Paulo -- The driver headed off without stopping to look, though I was ready to show him.

Daroo and Ruth -- Even though I ham-acted that I was disappointed that the van drove off, I really had just finished, and he left at the perfect time.

kishore said...

Hey Mr. Gurney,
Your paintings of ordinary life are always incredible.
Your grasp on perspective is extra ordinary, especially in the end, how well your painting blends with the prespective in the video.

Amber said...

I dunno...I heard you say "shoot" but I think I saw your lips say something that rhymes with "pit".

Carlos said...

James, I see you often mix casein with gouache using the former as a sort of base/underpainting. Have you ever tried regular acrylics mixed with gouache? I wonder if they would work as good together as casein and gouache do.