Dot Turnipseed Svendson is a master teacher of color and values. While studying
under Dot, I learned the true importance
of values. Dot stated that 80% of
painting is
correct if value is correct. She opened my eyes to the need to place my darks first
in a painting and
then add the lights and to always keep your colors clean and your
values
correct. We spent a lot of time mixing colors and comparing values and these
exercises were invaluable. Another major lesson I learned from Dot was
that there are
usually 4 planes to a painting:
(1) the sky is the lightest, (2)
the ground is next in
value (3) slanted objects next value and (4) uprights are
the darkest. During Plein Air
Painting, Dot
encouraged us to write down what we were feeling when we found a
scene so that
we would remember when completing our painting.
For instance, was
it a grey day, sunny, warm, did we feel peaceful, etc. and try and
incorporate our
feeling into our painting.
Dot referenced Carlsons Guide to Landscape Painting by
John F.
Carlson. In his book, Mr. Carlson states
“We have heard a great deal about
“simplicity” and “elimination” about “design”
in painting, but we have heard little
about the how or why of it all. It is easy to say to a student, “see nature
simply” but
that means nothing to him. It is a difficult task to explain logically why or how he should
see it
simply. It is not a question of helping
him to paint it simply, but rather one of
helping him see it simply. If he sees it simply, he will readily find a
way of painting
it simply.” Dot “sees” the painting simply and is able to tell a story without
overloading
the viewer with details. I
find that when I study with someone as great as
this teacher I do not always
come home with a finished painting but I use the opportunity
to experiment, learn and listen to her critiques and then I try to incorporate what I
have
learned into future paintings.
I attached an example of the four planes here that I did in the workshop. I apologize that
the quality is not very good but she stated it was a good example.
You can find Dot's website here:
I enjoyed this post. Carlson's book is fabulous and I recommend it all the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dot - your painting with the four planes is a perfect example of his theory