How do artists create depth in paintings?

Good day!

Here is a tip from a free online art lesson 

made to help you learn more about painting, 

collecting or simply appreciating art because  

the more you know, the easier it is to understand why you

love some works of art more than others. 

3 Ways That Artists Create Depth in Paintings.

TIP #1:

Experienced painters create depth by creating a:

Foreground, 

Middleground,

Background.

In the detail from Sarasota Sails, I have a boat that is close to you, the viewer, another that is halfway between the background and the foreground and a third off in the distance.

See how I was able to lead your eye way back into the painting and then begin to cross the bridge? Even though this is a flat two dimensional canvas, doesn't this technique make you feel like you are looking out hundreds of feet?

Take a look at some of the paintings in your home. Can you see a strong sense of depth?

If you would like to read the other two tips, Click here to register  and your free art tips will be sent to you.

Enjoy the day!

Linda

ps. You will receive this tip as the first of three tips to look for.

Winter Blues!

This winter I am busy painting in the studio now that I am back in NY.
It is too cold for me to paint outside so when possible I use plein air
studies as a reference.  I usually have winter blues but I think this year I found
a way to combat this.  Paint with lots of summer blue!!!

Here is the painting that I have been working on
from my memory and experience. It is quite liberating to have painted
a subject so much that it can be done from the mind and heart without a
reference photo or even a sketch in front of me.

Preparing for Martha's Vineyard Exhibit
 at the Nikki Sedacca Gallery opening May 22nd.

My aim when painting landscapes is to engage not only your mind as you recognize
the subject matter but include the feeling of being in the warm air. I want you to feel as if you were there in the moment.  If you do, then I believe I achieved my objective.

I feel my way through the
painting. If a color is too bright, it looks garish and feels weird in my belly. If it is too dull, it feels like a weight to me and looks
more like a photograph which is flat.





Sure, sometimes paintings "look like a photograph" and amaze us. I
look for something more...  the sun warming the space, the light dancing across the canvas, the good feeling inside we have when we are in nature. I attempt to not only capture what I see but how great I feel when on location.


Tips for capturing a feeling of warmth and sunlight when painting...

 Use warm colors in the light- the yellows, reds and oranges.
Add cool colors to shadows. Which ones, it depends on the time of day
 (more on this another time.)
If you are an artist, practice with color blocks in sunlight.

My oil painting of colored boxes in the sunlight.

See how the colors play on a  the white box?Have you ever noticed how a white sheet in the sun and shadow looks?

Practice, practice, practice. Seeing color is a gift for me yet, you can learn. It has come to me naturally.

You can learn.  Look at one color. Isolate it by making a circle with your fingers.

Look through your fingers and see the color all by itself.

What color does it resemble?

Now look around at your scene.



Let's say you said green. Where else in the scene in front of you do you see green?
Which green is warmer ?  The first one you selected or the second?
Which green is cooler? Not sure what this means?
Consider a workshop to learn. Join me in Sarasota, Fl March 21& 22nd.
Beginners are welcome.  More info click here.

Memory and Experience

Today after pulling out a barely started canvas from years ago, I saw that the photograph I used as a reference was missing. This is probably why it remained unfinished. I'd rather use a plein air sketch, painted on location, as a reference anyway.  A photo alone gives incomplete and often a flattened view. The camera doesn't see as the human eye does.  A plein air sketch gives me the colors that I personally see, the subtle nuances that will give life to the piece and is not cluttered with anything unnecessary.

I've painted or sketched the Hudson River at least a hundred times and have studied it nearly a thousand  times.  There is a remarkable view from my classroom window at the college where I teach art.  Today relying only

Photo from my classroom at SUNY Orange in Newburgh, NY where I teach one
day a week as an adjunct art professor. (This summer I'll be teaching online
so that I may be in Italy conducting a workshop as well. )

on my memory and experience I began working on this piece again with surprising ease.

                         Pastel, sold, painted from the college's open air garage during a storm.