Category: Color

Morning Haze

10/19/2013

An example of the type of step study that will be featured in my new book, "Mondays with Camille" and Everything Else you Didn't Learn in Art School about Color," due out in late November 2013.

This is one of my favorite spots to paint — our state-of-art, combination wetlands/water recycling facility in Petaluma, CA. Wetlands are a great subject to paint repeatedly because they are always changing.

This was a very hazy morning, so I am striving to paint the color of the air. In this scene, the air was very soft pink.

Step One: I overcolor at first with the intention to eventually add color to modify the first color notes I lay in.

Step Two: As I say to my students, you can tame a stallion, but you can't bring a dead horse back to life.

Step Three: The dead horse could have been a sky too dark and too blue.

Finished Painting: "Morning Haze, 9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

Do you have questions? Leave them in the comments!

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It's Showtime!

9/5/2013

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September is great painting weather in Northern California, and I am hitting the road with my paints! Next week, I will be a "celebrity" plein air artist and on the awards panel at the Mendocino Open Paint Out. But first, I am headed to the Knowlton Gallery in Lodi, California for the opening of the group show "Bouquets: Gardens, Farmer's Markets and Floral Still Lifes." If you are in Northern California, this gallery is well worth a visit , and it would be terrific to see you there at the reception: Saturday, September 7th from 1 - 4 p.m. The show will hang until September 28th. Here is a slideshow preview of the five paintings I will be showing. (Note - if you are reading this post in a feed reader, please click through to the actual blog for the best quality images).

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Sun Streak

8/12/2013

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An example of the type of step study that will be featured in my new book, "Mondays with Camille" and Everything Else you Didn't Learn in Art School about Color," due out November 2013.

Here is a gray day landscape study.

When I have been asked how I am able to get the light effects, I quote Charles Hawthorne (Hawthorne on Painting), "It is beautifully simple, painting — all we have to do is to get the color notes in their proper relation."

This is what I try to do — decide which color note I can see most clearly, put that first color note down quickly, and then that note becomes the key to my whole painting because everything else is related to it.

Actual Scene, in Petaluma, CA

First Note

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

The sky is the lightest and warmest in this scene so I started the color of the sky near the horizon with a warm pink -- slightly lighter in value than the cooler and darker top part of the sky. The warmth in the foreground brings the grass forward. The water was seen as warmer than the top part of the sky.

Finished Painting "Sun Streak" 8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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Indoor Studio Still Life

8/2/2013

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An example of the type of step study that will be featured in my new book, "Mondays with Camille" and Everything Else you Didn't Learn in Art School about Color," due out November 2013.

Actual Set-Up

Me Painting

It was a rainy day, so I did this demonstration for my Monday class in the studio under artificial light. I overstated the warmth of the light planes and then eventually added color to them to bring them closer to the actual color of the objects. I also started seeing the transition colors from the shadow to the light on each object. In Step One, please note that I started the blue cloth in light with a warm color, and eventually added blue to it. I couldn't start with a blue because I chose that color for the white bowl in shadow.

Step One

Step Two

Finished Painting, "The Green Vase," 12x16 inches, oil on canvas

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Turning Basin - Gray Day

7/15/2013

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An example of the type of step study that will be featured in my new book, "Mondays with Camille" and Everything Else you Didn't Learn in Art School about Color," due out November 2013.

Gray day light is one of my favorite lights to paint. Hensche often said that there was more color in a gray day than a sunny because the colors weren't bleached out.

Here is a photo of the actual scene, a turning basin in the Petaluma River.

Step One

Step Two

When I look at the sky/ground relationship, the sky appears to be lighter and warmer than anything on the ground. The light planes on a gray day are cool so the shadows notes appear to be warmer when you compare them to the light planes. The scene is backlit so the house is in shadow set against a bright sky.

Finished Painting: "Turning Basin," 9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

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River View North: A Step Study

7/9/2013

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An example of the type of step study that will be featured in my new book ("Mondays with Camille" and Everything Else you Didn't Learn in Art School about Color) due out November 2013.

On this Monday morning, my students gather to watch my painting demonstration of a scene by the river that runs adjacent to my studio in Petaluma, CA.

The demo was a study of the variation in greens.

Step One - It was a challenge to get the far trees on the right to recede, so I stated them cooler and more violet. The trees on the left were started with warmer color notes. I started the sky with a warm note of color to which I eventually added blue.

Preliminary Sketch

Step Two

Here is the finished painting: "River View North", 8 x 10 inches, Oil on Canvas

I left the pilings out because I didn't think they added to the painting. I also redesigned the dead grass in the foreground to create some interest.

I will be posting more step studies over the coming weeks, so make sure to subscribe to my blog at camilleprzewodek.com!

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Charleston, South Carolina - "A Portrait of a Place"

1/6/2013

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"City Market" 11" x 14"

I was recently in Charleston, SC. Here are a series of paintings I did while I was there. They are currently on display in Galerie On Broad in Charleston.

"Concord Street Afternoon" 11" x 14"

"Pineapple Fountain" 11" x 14"

I love traveling to different areas across the country. I call the series of paintings I do at any particular location, "Portraits of a Place." The more I paint a location, the better I understand it. Charleston was new to me and was very inspiring.

"East Bay Street Morning" 11" x 14"

"St Johns Island Morning" 9" x 12"

"St Johns Island Afternoon: 11"x 14"

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Mudheads

1/5/2013

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Here is a demonstration that I did at Weekend With The Masters in Monterey, CA. This is what Charles Hawthorne used to refer to as a “mudhead.” These were models, backlit against the ocean. The flesh was so dark that is resembled the color of mud. Hence, the term “Mudhead.”
I warmed up and lightened the ocean color to offset all the darks in the figure. My Model, Erin, is a silhouette against the water in the distance.

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Morning Haze

It's Showtime!

Sun Streak

Indoor Studio Still Life

Turning Basin - Gray Day

River View North: A Step Study

Charleston, South Carolina - "A Portrait of a Place"

Mudheads

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