Applying the Lessons of Plein Air to Photographic Reference
By Martha Saudek. Join Martha Saudek, CAC, as she proceeds through a series of considerations to best achieve a balanced, cohesive landscape painting. Martha chooses a subject from her source material and selects a canvas shape to best fit it. She creates a series of thumbnail compositions based on the shape to determine a design with clarity and focus.
After planning her layout, Martha chooses a dominant color temperature and explores her options for value distribution. Making these key decisions early in the process gives her constant points of reference and frees her to intuit smaller details in the painting.
Martha Saudek emphasizes drawing skill and color theory to keep her composition interesting and balanced. She measures key distances on her photo and canvas to maintain the integrity of her design. She establishes her focal point as early as possible and uses it to determine the balance and level of detail in the rest of the painting. She blocks in her lightest lights then begins work on the cool color scheme she planned at the beginning of the workshop. As she works she pauses to evaluate her composition and balance. The ongoing analysis helps her make revisions early and stay faithful to her design principles.
94 minutes.