Focal Point Issue Twelve
February 2016
In-house Magazine of the
Western Cape Artists’ Society 1
Focal Point Issue Twelve
February 2016
Editorial Spring had arrived and I had itchy feet to paint outdoors once again. Lyn Northam made a presentation to the WCAS on 17th October 2015 and she provided the additional impetus I needed. Lyn’s exhilarating talk began by her blowing bubbles over her audience – she said this was to remind us to never stop playing and having fun with art. She emphasized that the actual doing it was more important than the end result. She wears a flower every day to remind herself to see and appreciate the small things. Her blog site is entitled “Pick more daisies” and her mantra is “Loosen Up”. She then went on to tell us about experiences she has had over seven years of painting plein air and what she has learned (see separate article about Plein Air Painting in this issue). Lyne told us that the light is everything and that early morning or late afternoon is the best time to paint outdoors. Winter is also a fabulous time. In this issue we will explore light in more detail and discuss Notan sketches – which Lyn advocated and uses. Somethings can
affect the final colours in your outdoor painting. One is the wearing of sunglasses and the other is the use of an umbrella for shade. The correct choice of colour for an umbrella is important and Lyn had found a large black one with a silver lining which she has adapted so that it fits into the ground and she can secure it with ties and tent poles. When Lyn first arrives at her chosen painting destination she likes to stand and just feel the place – using her senses. She also likes to return to the same venue several times so that she becomes familiar with it. Once again the point was made that drawing and sketching is of the utmost importance. So don’t forget to make those daily sketches. I sketch a lot outdoors with a minimum of equipment and this is possibly the best route for a novice artist who has few materials. Start by deciding what type of sketch you wish to make so that you can have the appropriate sketch book – cartridge paper for pencil or pen, watercolour paper for watercolour washes, etc. A sketch book that fits into your bag or pocket is best as you can carry 2
it almost anywhere to snatch that sketch. One with a hard back is really good as it provides support and if you put a rubber band around the cover you can hold back the pages when there is a breeze. Then set yourself up with a travel kit of pencils, pens, watercolour paints or pastels. I find watercolour is quick and easy to make colour sketches with and a waterbrush makes this really easy. These are inexpensive brushes that are easy to find. The handle is hollow and can be filled with water so no need to carry heavy water around with you. A packet of tissues and a hat and I’m away. This is the basic kit I take on my holidays to make quick sketches (see next column)
Fill your sketchbook with many images – they don’t need to be complete pictures – a leaf or a doorway or a person’s hat or shoe can all be sketched quickly. Just sketch, sketch, sketch. This is very
unobtrusive and no-one will bother you. It also gets you into the habit of working quickly.
For more lengthy sketches, look at the separate articles in this issue. I so agree with Lyn that sketches made from real life, quickly on site, have an energy and spontaneity that is lost if you work from photographs or in a studio. Give it a try and attend one of our plein air sessions or just go out there. Let me know if you try this and how you feel about working outdoors. Herman van Zyl offered a prize during 2015 for the member who best described why they paint. Although there was only one winner some interesting points were made and we publish some later in this magazine. It is worth considering why you paint and writing it down as it crystallizes your ideas. See what some of our members say.
__________________________________________________________________________________ Kathy Wivell kathywivel@gmail.com Editor
Chris Hall chris87hall@gmail.com Sub editor
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Articles in this issue Page No
Branch members’ news
Di White’s gallery opening Annual Merit & Little Gems exhibition New trophies for WCAS
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The long read
Seeing the light
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Learning points
Creating realistic light and shadow on folded fabric
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Plein air painting
Lyn Northam’s presentation Weekend in Barrydale
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The artistic journey
Making and using Notan Sketches
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From our readers
6 things I learned about painting
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“Look at light and admire its beauty. Close your eyes, and then look again: what you saw is no longer there; and what you will see later is not yet.” Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
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Branch member news Bright Street Gallery Di White has opened a new art gallery in Somerset West. The Bright Street Gallery at 33 Bright Street, opened its doors on 08 January with the ‘New Beginnings’ exhibition. Exhibited artists were Di Ackerman-Johnson, Marion Cross, Cliff Davies, Marion Langton, Zach Mukwira, Derric van Rensberg, Kathy Wivell and Di herself. Not only is there a new gallery at 33 Bright Street, there is an exciting ‘creative space’ behind, with a workshop room and studio space for hire. There are now two working artists with studios here – Di herself, and your very own ‘Focal Point’ editor, Kathy. The creative space hosts painting classes on Wednesday mornings held by Brindley Prichard, and a series of workshops are planned, which started with a Saturday morning cartoon and illustration workshop by Vernon Fourie. For further information contact Di or Chris (gallery curator) on 021 851 2520.
WCAS Annual Merit & Little Gems Exhibition As the ‘New Beginnings’ exhibition closed, the WCAS Annual Merit and Little Gems exhibition opened at the Bright Street Gallery. At another well-attended opening for the gallery, WCAS Chairman introduced the opening speaker Derric van Rensberg, after which the certificates were awarded to the winning artists:
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Award-Winning Artists Annual Merit Award Best Watercolour – Marion Langton Best Acrylic – Di White Highly Commended (Embroidery) – Ruth Taube (x 2) Commended (Watercolour) - Marion Langton Commended (Watercolour) – Charmé Southey Little Gems Highly Commended – Charmé Southey Well done to the winning artists and all those who were chosen to exhibit!
New Trophies for WCAS Members may recall the ‘design a trophy’ competition which Shelly announced last year. Here is the result: modern, elegant and practical. Designed by Dan du Toit and created by Eric O’Neill. We think it’s a real winner and a real incentive to submit to future WCAS exhibitions!
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The long read Seeing the Light Firstly we must realize that without light there would be nothing to paint. What we draw and paint is not reality, or an objective image of reality, but an image created by our brain using an interpretation of signals received by our eyes. Painting is an art of colouring, darkening and lightening certain areas of a piece of paper to create an illusion of looking at something real. An artist therefore, tries to recreate the image that our brain could create for itself. A picture need not show every detail, but by using recognizable shapes or outlines with patches of colour, light and shadow we can bring something familiar to the mind of our observer. So the first rule of painting is: “Light is the only thing we can see. It’s not an object, not a colour, not a perspective, not a shape. We can see only light rays reflected from a surface, disturbed by the properties of the surface and our eyes. The final image in our head is a set of all the rays hitting our retina at one particular moment. “
Shadows A shadow is simply an area untouched by direct light. When you are standing in shadow you are not able to see the source of light. The length of shadow can be calculated by drawing the rays of light. However, only when light is from one point is an easily defined shadow seen. When the light source is bigger (more scattered), the shadow gains a blurry, gradient edge. Rule two of painting is: “The position of the observer influences the shading. The light source can be fixed, the object may be fixed, but every observer will see it a bit differently.” Creating a 3D effect on a flat sheet of paper is the same whether drawing or painting. Since objects are 3 dimensional, light strikes them in various ways, creating highlights and shadows. The stronger the light, the sharper the terminator (the virtual line between light and shadow), and this signifies an artificial light source. To avoid this, always blur the area between light and shadow.
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Terminology Full light
The area in front of a light source
Highlight
A place where the specular reflection finds its way to your eyes. It is the brightest point of the shape
Half light
A full light, darkening gradually toward the terminator
Terminator
A virtual line between light and shadow. It can be sharp and clear or soft and blurry
Core Shadow
The area that faces away from the light source and is therefore not illuminated by it
Reflected light
A diffuse reflection hitting the core shadow. It is never brighter than the full light. Reflected light is the light bouncing back from an object’s environment. The colour of an object’s surroundings is evident in its reflected light.
Cast shadow
The area blocked from the light source by the object, and is always the darkest and most sharply focused near its source. Cast shadows are darker less intense versions of the colour they fall upon. The colour of a cast shadow will always contain the complement of the colour of the light source, as well as the complement of the colour the shadow falls upon e.g. blue in the cast shadow of an orange light, green in a red light.
Proximity shadows The dark shadows we see where objects touch each other. The dark line around a closed door, the dark line beneath the coffee mug and the dark line between your closed fingers are all proximity shadows. They are relatively unaffected by the direction of the light. These shadows within shadows are often the darkest darks of a painting.
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The Cape Cod School of Art’s Approach to seeing light At the turn of the twentieth century Charles W Hawthorne gained a reputation as a great painter and educator at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He would march his students to the waterfront and make them paint models posing in the glaring sun, using only a 2 putty knife. The clumsy tool forced students to apply large dollops of oil paint, making it impossible to render the model’s features. The object of painting these “mud-heads”, as they were called, was to capture the effects of sunlight on the figure using only large, simple masses of colour.
Charles W. Hawthorne demonstrating to class, c. 1910. Unknown photographer. PAAM archives
After Hawthorne’s death in 1934, Henry Hensche took over the teaching of light with a different approach. He advocated that his students paint coloured blocks outdoors in brilliant sunlight. Focusing on these simple shapes made it easier to see how colours are influenced by changes in the atmospheric conditions. Students became aware of how the light changed throughout the day, and from one season to another and under varying weather conditions. The above article includes extracts from http:/design.tutsplus.com/articles/improve-yourartwork-by-learning-to-see-the-light and http:loisgriffel.com/colorarticle.shtml – Articles and Essays – Color Magazine Article – A Modern Approach to Studying Light and Color.
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Chiaroscuro in Painting: The Power of Light and Dark By Dan in Art Tutorials > Painting Tutorials
Chiaroscuro is an art term that’s used quite frequently, but sometimes without an understanding of exactly what it means. This article talks about the more important aspects of Chiaroscuro, primarily as it relates to painting. The word Chiaroscuro itself is Italian, and roughly means, “light and dark.” It was first used to describe a type of drawing on medium-dark paper where the artist created both darker areas with ink and lighter areas with white paint. Later on the term was used for woodcut prints which essentially did the same thing, using white and black together. When it comes to painting, however, Chiaroscuro truly came to life in the paintings of Caravaggio during the late 16th century.
Caravaggio began to use deep, dark backgrounds for many of his paintings, and seemed to almost turn a spotlight on his figures. The high contrast in those paintings made for intensely powerful and dramatic works of art. Because of Caravaggio, Chiaroscuro became very popular, and today the word is most often used to mean “high contrast” more than anything else. Sometimes the source of the intense illumination in a painting (whether by Caravaggio or other artists) was actually IN the painting—you can see examples in religious works, where an angel or other holy figure actually illuminates the entire scene.
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Other times the light source is simply a candle, or a fire. All of these situations offered artists a chance to explore silhouettes and other extremes, and obviously made the emphasis on light and shadow more important than the scene itself on many occasions. For painters today, dramatic lighting is a tool to be used intentionally, with care. When the focus of a painting is upon the form of objects, or the shape of a figure, then Chiaroscuro can be exceedingly helpful. Strong directional light will lift out details and features, and give a true threedimensional appearance. But not every painting will benefit. Chiaroscuro can be too harsh in portraits, too unnatural (how often are things actually lit by a spotlight?), or just too dramatic for what you’re trying to portray. Rembrandt knew the value of Chiaroscuro’s direct lighting (in order to display the features of a face) but he softened edges and lessened the contrast of “true” Chiaroscuro to lend a calmness to his paintings as well. So the next time you see an example of Chiaroscuro, think about how it’s being used— does the high contrast help or hurt the overall message of the painting? ___________________________________________________________________________
“Of the original phenomena, light is the most enthralling.” Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
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Learning Points Creating realistic light and shadow on folds in shiny fabric In order to help you see light here is an activity you could try. Take a piece of shiny fabric and arrange it in interesting folds. Use a digital camera or tablet and take a picture of the cloth. Print a colour copy of the photograph. Put a piece of tracing paper over the printed image and outline the various blocks of light and dark colours lightly with a pencil. Remove the tracing paper and then mark the blocks of light and dark with value numbers 1 to 6. Make a colour key to follow by drawing 6 small boxes on a piece of paper and matching the numbered boxes with different values of the colour you are using to the colours in the tonal areas of the photo. Following this pattern of marked coloured areas, use watercolours, pastels or crayons to fill in the tonal values. Take a black and white copy of your picture and reprint the original photo in black and white and then compare the two. (This activity was taken from Huntingdon and Scott Gallery Programs – Light in Painting)
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Plein Air Painting 1. Experiences from a Plein Air Painter Lyn Northam gave us lots of advice at her presentation on the pitfalls and benefits of Plein Air painting – painting outside. I personally felt excited after her talk as I feel just the same way as she does – that you need to get out there and paint from life as often as possible. However, she did point out that it is not for the faint-hearted. Lyn says that you go out whatever the weather, but you must prepare yourself well beforehand. Here is a list of Lyn’s suggestions:Clothing - wear layers of clothing to keep your body warm in cold weather. Fingerless gloves, a deerstalker hat that keeps ears warm and a warm jacket and scarf. It is not a fashion show and it doesn’t matter how you look as long as you can cope with the elements. In hot weather you need a good sunhat, sunscreen, a muslin cloth to wet and put around your neck and maybe another to stop your feet from burning. Also, a large umbrella that can shade you, your easel and your palette. Refreshments - ensure you have a hearty breakfast if setting out early – this is brain food. Take along a flask of something warm to drink in cold weather or cool in warm and lunch if you intend being out over lunchtime. Equipment Easel – Lyn had a portable easel to which she ties an empty Pringles tube to hold her brushes and her roll of tissue in attached on a tape (so it doesn’t blow away). She also keeps a plastic shopping bag with a large stone in it in her car. She can use this to anchor down her easel if it is windy. Pigment – you can paint using a limited palette and she often does so. You can also make pen sketches or use Doc Martin’s ink to which you can add water. Plastic bags – a large black one so that you can cover up your easel and painting surface etc if it suddenly starts to rain. A packet for your dirty brushes and one for rubbish. Security - go with friends and always be aware of your surroundings. Do no wear jewellery or valuables. A jacket with a lot of pockets (similar to what anglers wear) can hold your cell phone, camera and purse. 13
Sketch book - have a large bulldog clip to hold pages down at the side and an elastic band to hold the other side down Working procedure for Plein Air work: Decide what to paint – use a viewfinder – think composition, shape and focal point. Make 3 thumbnail sketches – one in landscape, one portrait and one square. Look for the big shapes – negative shapes are good to look for. Mark the direction of the light. Make a Notan Sketch and then a larger value sketch. This may seem like a lot of preparation, but it will be of enormous benefit and need not take long.
2. Plein Air painting in Barrydale The November 2015 Barrydale plein air expedition by Eric O’Neill
In November 2015, 15 members (of the WCAS and Stellenbosch’s Art Society) went off to Barrydale on a Plein Air painting weekend, with members staying in various B&Bs. On the first evening, Friday, almost everybody had arrived and we enjoyed a picnic in the pass at the edge of the Stonehaven estate. Val du Toit’s daughter, Suzanne was energetic enough to climb up to a rock shelter to see the Bushman rock art, high above the picnic site, and brought us back a photo. The next morning we went to Barrydale’s Waterfront to paint the awesome views over the valley, some of us staying for breakfast at the Blue Cow restaurant. A few of the more intrepid souls decided to set up and paint and sketch in town. This proved to be a challenging activity since the farmers bring their people to town from the surrounding farms, it being a Saturday. The noise and chatter is difficult to 14
describe, and many of these locals morph into “expert” art advisers as some of our number soon found out. After lunch we went to the historic Moreson estate to paint the charming buildings and their surroundings. That evening we were booked in to Mez restaurant, owned by Michelle Berry who is herself an artist and the curator of the Barrydale Art Hotel. It was at this point that the first of two unadvertised but wonderful art experiences happened, which made the weekend all the more memorable. Michelle had organised a soirée at the hotel and invited a number of local artists, from as far afield as Ladismith. The hotel provided free refreshments of a surprisingly high standard, and we had the opportunity of meeting some artists outside of the WCAS group. It was altogether a wonderful experience On Sunday morning almost all of us went to the “Piekniek bos” in a kloof in Tradouw’s Pass. The photograph taken with the waterfall behind me shows our group of artists striving to capture the changing light and water movement.
That afternoon we had our second unexpected art experience. It happened that our neighbours Adrian and Basil, the principal members of the Handspring Puppet Company, were in Barrydale and thanks to Anita Glenister, Adrian’s sister, our whole group was invited to tea with them. They are responsible for the life size puppets used in the internationally acclaimed production of War Horse. These are essentially articulated sculptures. They gave us a delightful talk on their involvement in War Horse and their present activities which include lino cut prints for a production of the opera Ulysses. This was art at a level that is a little intimidating!
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That evening we all attended a braai at Monique’s B&B, with Basil and Adrian as guests. Shelly showed a short painting DVD while food was being prepared. The spirit of camaraderie with our common interest in art as the theme is difficult to put into words. Oils, acrylics, watercolours, sketches‌.the art just flowed from so many talented hands! Shelly is threatening to organise another trip to Barrydale this year!
Wow! What an action packed art weekend which I know was enjoyed by all. I am so sorry I could not attend. Kathy
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The Artistic Journey Seeing “Notan” – How to Make Stronger Compositions Using Lights and Darks By Dianne Mize in Art Tutorials > Drawing Tips
We all want viewers to be attracted to our paintings, and to linger with them for a while. The more clever our composing strategy, the more likely we are to catch the viewers’ eye and hold their attention. One strategy that depends upon seeing shapes of light and dark rather than following traditional compositional rules is the Japanese concept of Notan. Notan means lightness/darkness and is pronounced just like it looks (no tan). When used in paintings, a Notan drawing is the underlying light and dark structure. Seeing Notan is the act of identifying patterns of light and dark. A good Notan drawing will simplify the full range of a subject’s values into a black and white design—the white represents areas directly in the light, while the black depicts areas in shadow. Colour is never considered in a Notan drawing because the value of any darkcoloured shape sitting in strong light will still translate to a light value. For example, a dog’s fur may be dark brown, but where sunlight hits him, the value is light.
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Here are six steps to help you see Notan in a scene and create a Notan drawing. Step 1. Round up materials You’ll need paper, pencil, and a black drawing marker (I use Tombow N15 which has a brush tip on one end and a pen nib on the other, but any black drawing marker should work). You might also want a viewfinder and an isolator.
Step 2. Find a subject with a single light source This is easily done through your viewfinder. A single light source is preferable for learning to see Notan, but later on you’ll be able to discern Notan in all sorts of light.
Step 3. Choose the orientation for your image Should your subject be presented in a vertical or horizontal format? The three cows I’ll be drawing (see below) lend themselves to a horizontal format, so that’s what I’ll use.
Step 4. Using your marker, draw a small rectangle This rectangle will then be the border of your drawing and doesn’t need to be any larger than 2” x 3”. It can actually be smaller, but larger might become cumbersome.
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Step 5. Do a quick pencil drawing of basic shapes This pencil sketch should not be detailed nor should it be laboured over. The idea is to place the shapes in your format without much worry. Here’s a quick sample pencil drawing I made of those three cows.
Step 6: Fill in the Notan drawing Squinting, look at your subject through your viewfinder. Darks and lights will become obvious. If that doesn’t work for you, close one eye and look through your isolator. Over the top of your pencil drawing, slowly use your marker to blacken all areas where no direct light source is striking or illuminating. (These will be darker than the isolator). Allow no gaps between shapes of the same value which are side-by-side. Continue squinting. Don’t rush. Carefully explore the entire area within your viewfinder and continue until you’ve captured the entire pattern of darks. Once the darks are captured, the light pattern is taken care of. 19
Here is my finished Notan drawing:
Notan drawing will seem a bit awkward at first, but after doing it a few times you’ll begin to feel more natural with it. As an added payoff, your ability to see light and dark will greatly improve. ___________________________________________________________________________
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From our readers Ann Selbach sent the following article she has found. It was written by Sandrine Pelissier on November 9, 2015. She is French Canadian and so her English may be a little different. http://www.sandrinepelissier.com/ We all learn to become better artists with each painting we make and over the years we start to do certain things differently. Here are a few tips that helped me, and I wanted to share them as they might help other artists. I would also love to hear some of the ways to improve you discovered in the comments.
6 things I learned about painting 1. Take the time to think before starting to work If you are like me, you can sometimes be very eager to start moving the paint on the canvas and tempted to skip or rush all the preparatory sketches and thinking. But it is also important to realize that mistakes done in the first stages of the painting are usually the most difficult to fix. So when elements like composition, colour palette, style have been decided before starting to paint, the rest of the process will usually go smoothly.
2. Has it been done already too many times? Maybe this can be a bit controversial, but as a person who has seen many exhibitions and artists’ works, I get easily bored when the art is very safe and unimaginative or very repetitive. I also realise that it is very difficult to come up with something totally unique all the time, but it can be interesting to think about what makes your art unique and what makes the next painting a bit different from the previous one. This is also a bit of a fine line because artists are usually expected to be very consistent so their work can be recognizable. So the difficulty I guess is to stay on that fine line where you keep the work exciting and varied while still being consistent and recognizable.
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3. Composition is a must There are many aspects of a painting that can be overlooked but usually composition is not one of them. Try to think about the localisation of your focal point on the painting. You can apply the rule of third or not, but usually the focal point is not in the middle of the painting or not alongside the edges. Of course there are exceptions. I also like to think in terms of repetition with variation: that means having elements that are repetitive but will differ from each over in the painting. The focal point can sometimes be the place in the painting with the most details and the most contrast.
4. Colour: repetition and variation Repetition with variation works also when thinking about colour. Usually a colour that goes somewhere on the canvas is also found in over places on the canvas, that is the repetition. That colour can also vary a bit when painting an area so it is not totally flat. This is variation.
5. Consistency of style I like to experiment and have fun trying on different subjects and styles, and I think it is important for artists to give themselves the freedom to experiment from one painting to the next. Nevertheless within one painting, it usually works better if the style stays consistent. For example, if you are painting a landscape with a body of water in a realistic style, don’t paint just one area like the reflections in the water in an impressionist style.
6. Take a distance to help evaluate your painting Sometimes when we keep looking at something we end up not seeing it anymore, or even worse we end up focusing only on what we think went wrong. That is when we need to look at the painting with a “fresh eye�. There are a few ways to do that, you can stop painting for a while and come back to it later, look at the painting in a mirror to see a reversed image, look at it upside down, you can also take a picture and look at it on a smaller scale. Thank you Ann! I am sure we can all use these reminders of what we should be considering when painting.
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The Western Cape Artists’ Society
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