Saturday, June 25, 2011

Painting with Calligraphic Brushstrokes

The grand startegy (ideas) used in this case are



1. macchia --> pattern --> chiaroscuro

2. calligraphic brush strokes -- moving "spots" of color

3. creating spaces through distinct shapes --> linear perspectve





Note: macchoa is created with burnt sienna using some ultra marine blue mixed in for darker areas (or just more sienna paint) plus some titanium white mixed in (for ligher areas). The pount is to create the macchia with chiaroscuro from the very beginning. This also provides a reddish underpainting.





Begin to add color immediately. Note that the underpainting combines and interacts wit the color paint, both transparent glazes and opaque pigments, giving interesting chiaroscuro effects that you need to pay attention to as you go forward.




Here I have added calligraphic brush strokes in titanium white (ranging from pure white to slightly off-white) . Here is the "big idea" : Any painting, no matter how complex, is basically a sequence of applied calligraphic brushstrokes. call this "Ross' Theorem" !!

This simply means that the light moving through the composition is established in this manner. More soon...

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