Mike Major's blog/daily paintings: 9 to 5 at Montage

Sunday, June 26, 2016

9 to 5 at Montage

The morning was overcast and the ocean was surging over the rocks. This was one of those days where if I was painting from a photographic reference my painting would have been dull and gloomy. To me this demonstrates one of the biggest disadvantages / advantages in painting in the studio / plein air.

The difference in seeing the colors versus seeing the colors as the camera sees them is dramatic. It may not look it in the finished painting but if I were to paint the same painting outside and inside you could tell the difference. That is why when I am painting from photographic references I have to change the saturation to approximate how I see things.

I had a brown board in the car which was perfect for the atmosphere that morning.

With all of the elements in place it was time to start defining and refining them.

I cut the water into the rock to define its shape more accurately.

Because the day was overcast it bought me a little extra time in refining the dark areas of the painting. Usually this is something I commit to in the very beginning stages of a painting.

Being able to work the darker values at any stage of a painting is an advantage you get when you work with pastels. It doesn't happen all the time but to have the freedom to rework your values in any direction makes it a lot easier to produce good results.

At this point in the painting I am introducing the final colors into the painting. I have refined the shapes and I am adding the highlights to the painting.

The finished painting.

Without taking a break I stepped right into the second painting of the day. I did not even change my vantage point. I just decided to change the composition by getting closer to the main rock.

I really approached getting the shape of this rock in a much looser manner than I did in the first painting. The shape emerges from the marks I was putting down. This came in part from my unsureness of the proportions of the rock within the composition and the size of my board. This is when I can benefit from a quick sketch. It helps me get everything inside the painting.

On the bottom side of the rock, I defined the rock by painting the water. On the top side of the rock I defined the highlighted edge of the rock.

I defined the right hand side tip of the rock by painting the water on the rock and continued on the water. I like the idea of painting something by painting what it isn't. That is part of the idea of notan.

Using the color of the board allowed me to quickly add the water above the rock and to keep it loose. The challenge for me with painting the ocean is that it has specific characteristics at all these given moments. All of the shapes within the water are constantly changing but are very similar at specific moments. When a set of waves come in all of the water is effected. My idea of painting water is to understand all of the water together in the moment I am trying to put it down. So I study all the different parts of the water (like the water coming off of the tip of the rock). When that water is doing that what is all the other water doing? So I try to put down all these pieces together by studying what they are doing at a particular moment and then relate them to each other.

Finished! I started painting at around 10 am and finished at 5 pm. I did not take a break. That is the longest I have painted without stopping. I am not sure if that is good but there it is. I probably should have used the rest room after the first painting.