Houses that have survived northern winters are like old sailing ships that have crossed the ocean. They're leaky and battered, with the paint barely holding on.
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| Saugerties Main Street, gouache, 5 x 8 inches |
I painted this Victorian house while sitting in my car in a parking lot behind a diner. It was too cold and windy to set up my gouache easel outside.
The eye level is just beneath the picture so that I could focus on the roofline. The palette is limited to white, black, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow deep, and ultramarine in order to emphasize contrasts in color temperature. I used the warmest colors for the down-facing planes, such as the corbel brackets and the arched window tops.
When I arrived, the sunlight was still illuminating the front planes of the structure, but I knew the light effect would change as the front surface fell entirely into shadow within 15 minutes. So I had to hurry to capture the lighting, especially that sliver of light on the arched gable.
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Art Supplies
Watercolor sketchbook
Gouache
Travel brush set
6 comments:
Mr. Gurney, this is fantastic! Can i write some questions to you by email?
Thanks for yet another interesting post. I do wonder about something. Burnt sienna and ultramarine blue make a black. Is there an advantage to using a tube black?
Gary, good question. I often leave off the black and use BS and UB, but I had it there for sparing dark accents. Even pure black often appears a dark gray when the gouache dries because the matte surface of the paint scatters a certain amount of the light.
HNK, I have a hard time getting to all the questions, and I prefer to answer them if they're in the comments tied to a specific blog post. But if you have one or two specific questions, I'll try to get you a brief answer.
I like this painting. The plein air style makes for a very pleasing image to view, not too much minutia. This one sticks out to me for its mood...the house almost looks haunted, it has a lot of character. Thanks for sharing Mr. Gurney.
I haven't come across any cold winter time Edward Hopper painting yet.
Perhaps it would look somehow like this.
Hello Mr. James Gurney,
I recently came across one of your videos on YouTube on how to paint dinosaurs. I was so interested I went along and purchased the download and warched it countless times. I was wondering if you could possibly make a video making a dinosaur sculpture step by step? I was so inspired I went to the art store here down in Louisiana and bought a few boxes of Sculpty. I attempted to sculpt a Allosaurus, one of my favorites from when I was little. His head was coming along, but I just couldn't get the body to stand up correctly without toppling over and breaking. I also bought the wire you were using and watched how you built them, but in the video it goes by so quickly I can't really see how you make the skeleton for them. Thank you again for your videos! :)
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