Phil Starke Studio Newsletter - July 2018
Phil Starke is a professional fine artist with prestigious gallery representation in the western United States and teaches workshops and online fine art courses.
PHIL STARKE STUDIO NEWSLETTER
July 2018
I hope everyone’s having a good summer, lots of painting outside, soaking up the sun. In Tucson it's time to paint in the studio or get out of town. I’ll be going to the Grand Canyon this month for some sunrise and sunset paintings (I’ll nap during the heat of the day). We will also get all 9 grandkids together at one time and spend time with them, I won’t get any painting done then.
In our Online Mentoring class we are focusing on simplifying our subject by creating patterns. Finding large patterns and shapes helps simplify the values and color.
We are also focusing on using an earth palette to simplify the color process in the block-in stage. Using a palette of ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna and white. It’s easier to focus on the value and temperature with a simplified palette like this. I can still simulate the color I see, but not worry about copying it. Then after the block-in, I can add 2 or 3 more colors to the palette, and apply stronger color where I need it. (Images may be enlarged when clicked.)
If you would like to know more about the Online Mentoring, just click the link for more info. Phil Starke Studio Online Mentoring
Try to stay cool,
Phil
ARTIST AT A GLANCE
Vladimir Stozharov, 1826 to 1973
Vladimir Stozharov was born in Moscow in 1926 and he died in 1973 at the age of 47. He lived a short life, but left a big impact on Russian art. He was a member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR and an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.
Stozharov’s paintings are very strong and bold depictions of Russian life after WW2. His brushwork is very confident in his depiction of the Russian landscape, architecture, and still life.
He traveled throughout Russia, painting extensively in Northern Russia, the remote corners of the country where the older way of life was still preserved. He liked the low hanging clouds on cloudy days.
While his compositions can be crowded, he simplified his shapes, depicting only what's necessary to the painting. He used bold brushwork, which helped in simplifying the shapes and masses. He took several painting trips to Europe, painting in France, Italy and Romania. (All images can be enlarged when clicked.)
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ARTIST TIP
Creating Form Where There Is No Form
When we use photography, it's easy to get caught up in copying what we see and get away from the idea that we are suppose to suggest light and form, sometimes in spite of the photograph. We have to make the forms we paint look solid and 3-dimensional and not get caught up in too many subtle value variations (detail). If I can simplify the shape and suggest solid form, then the painting will work much better.
This is a photograph from the Catalina Mountains in Tucson. The trees and shrubbery look mushy and don’t have much form to them. If I get too caught up in trying to replicate the photo I will loose the form and the large dark and light shapes and my painting will look soft and lack depth.
In this photo I’ve create more separation of light and dark, and created more solid looking forms. I’ve ignored the subtle value changes in favor of solid looking shapes. I also got rid of details that make it harder to see what the light is doing. This doesn’t mean I’m not true to nature, I’m interpreting instead of copying.
Here are a couple of paintings by William Wendt, you can see he doesn’t mess around with subtle value changes. He’s interpreting shapes and simplifying to suggest stronger, more solid forms.
That's not to say we never want to attempt to suggest subtle value and color changes. Below are 2 paintings by George Innes, full of beautiful subtle value and color changes that create the mood he was after.
and one by Guy Rose with a lot of subtle broken color.
But even here, with subtle value and color changes, he created more simplicity than what's actually there, and he started with the large masses of strong dark and light contrast, then selected some subtleties that helped the painting. He didn’t just copy what's in front of him.
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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
PHIL STARKE ONLINE MENTORING - Weekly video lessons sent out and video critiques of work from lessons. Each student has instructor access.
PAINT WITH CONFIDENCE FAMILY OF ONLINE COURSES - Includes:
Online Mentoring
The Bootcamp Workshop
The Plein Air Painting Course
Conquering Summer Greens Mini-Workshop.
A LA CARTE LESSON VIDEO DOWNLOADS - Individual Video Demos Available for Download
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