Injecting Dramatic Lighting into your Paintings

In a painting in any medium, treatment of light is a vital consideration. While the landscape photographer has to work with available light, artists can manipulate it to their advantage, changing it, intensifying it, rendering a much softer, atmospheric light or create a dramatic sense of light and dark, and so much more. It pays to study how the top artists have treated the light in their compositions when you visit an important exhibition or collection.

Brancaster Staithe

Brancaster Staithe

This scene on the Norfolk coast shows part of the composition bathed in late afternoon sunlight, as it throws the emphasis on the central building, the two figures and the boats. I achieved hard edges on the buildings set against a dark sky by using masking fluid, rubbing it off once the background washes had dried, and then painting in the details on the buildings and the rest of the scene, completing everything apart from the shadows in the foreground. At that point I often trundle off for a coffee, or if it’s late I’ll finish for the day. This allows the washes to dry completely – in fact I’ll often get on with another painting at that point.

With the whole painting completely dry I wash clean water right across the foreground, taking it up into the lower sky area. Make sure that you take the water some distance beyond where you intend to create the soft edge, as water has a habit of creeping further than you might think. I then apply a mixture of French ultramarine and cadmium red over the shadow area, including the darkened left-hand buildings and the far right-hand hedgerow. This wash blends nicely into the wet paper, creating soft-edged shadows, with the area I wished to highlight being left untouched. If you are a little wary of this technique try it out firstly on old paintings that have not worked well, so that if things really do go wrong it won’t matter.

Sketching on Marloes Beach, Pembrokeshire

Marloes Beach, Pembrokeshire

Marloes Beach, Pembrokeshire

Here I am again harping on about the advantages of sketching in front of your subject over taking a photograph.
Well I make no apologies, these two images illustrate the point perfectly. In the photograph the intense light has reduced the headlands and rocks on the beach to silhouettes. The photograph was taken with a small digital camera and unless you are very familiar with all the functions of your camera this is the most likely result you will get.

Sketch Marloes Beach

Sketch Marloes Beach

Luckily I had time to sit and sketch the scene as well as take the photograph and as you can see the eye can discern much more detail than a camera. I moved the rocks around a little to lead the eye along the shoreline and sketched the figures on the side of the sketch so that I could place them in the most advantageous position in the resulting painting.

Pembrokeshire is my favourite area of the UK for sketching. There is so much variety of unspoilt coastal and rural scenery that there is always something exciting to sketch whatever the season or the weather. One of our most popular courses takes place in St David’s at the Warpool Court Hotel overlooking St Non’s Bay.  The good news is that due to the economic climate we have negotiated a considerable reduction in the price of the course this year. You can find details here. Do come and join us, you can paint in watercolour or pastel as both David and I will be tutoring this course.

The importance of sketching

Beddgelert Sketchbook
Beddgelert, Snowdonia, Pen and watercolour sketch by Jenny Keal
(click on picture for larger view)
This sketch of the back of the houses along the river in Beddgelert was done during our last painting course at Sygun Fawr Hotel. The initial outlines were drawn with a Sepia Pitt pen size S and then the watercolour washes were added. Some of the washes were done on the spot and I finished them off back in the hotel.David and I believe that the single most useful thing you can do to improve your painting is to take up sketching. Drawing and painting outdoors in front of your subject brings many benefits with it. Not only getting out and about in the fresh air, and having a little exercise if you are able to walk, but being in front of your subject instead of working only from a photograph means you are able to move around and get the best viewpoint, or sketch from several different angles to get any hidden details, and get closer to see details not apparent in a photograph.Photographs are not particularly good at capturing atmosphere and recession but when you are outside looking at a scene, half closing your eyes will reveal the tonal and colour differences between the distant and closer objects.

Sketching in watercolour or pen and wash is a very quick way to capture colour and tone out of doors and it has the added benefit of loosening up your painting style. After all it is only a sketch and not intended for exhibition and because your time is limited it is not so easy to overwork it. You can learn a lot from sketching in watercolour.

Even if you are not particularly mobile, if it is possible for you to get out and enjoy nature, do try and do some sketching out of doors. I’m convinced you will find it improves your work.