Lesson 9 - Buildings and working from photographs
Including buildings in a piece of work adds human interest. Townscapes can be as beautiful a subject as landscapes. But getting the time to paint from life is not so easy and many of us rely on a quick sketch and or a photograph or two as reference for a full painting when we get home.
Purists decry the use of photographs but Degas and Cezanne are amongst many famous artists who used them as reference material at times, so why shouldn't we. With a busy life and demanding families photographs are to my mind essential inspiration to the modern artist.
Working from photographs however is not just a matter of copying everything you see. The colours of photographs are often not true to life and dark areas in shadow can end up as black voids. This photograph of a castle in Majorca shows as an example.
The nearer you are to an object the more foreshortening will occur, put simply the perspective is messed up and the nearer parts become larger and out of scale. See how the construction lines meet at different points instead of just two vanishing points.
If you have a knowledge of photography distance can be lengthened or shortened with different lens, a wide angled lens will make features appear longer than in life. Black and white film appears to have a wider tonal range than colour, but not as wide as the human eye.
In a complicated scene such as this one it is difficult to know what to include in the painting and what to leave out.
Earlier this year I completed a project of paintings of Harvington Hall in Worcestershire. I had visited the hall on an autumn evening the previous year but with the fading light and limited time managed only one photo of the front of the hall. I managed to find a number of other images on the www but to use them directly would contravene copyright law.
To begin with I found an old plan in my local library. The plan showed proposed extensions to the building not all of which were built and other parts that have since been demolished. However the plan gave me an idea of the size of the buildings foundations and with the assorted images I was able to build up the building to three of four sides. These are the paintings I invented from my research.
It is important therefore to interpret a photograph rather than copy it directly.
Any building can make a charming subject for watercolour including abandoned and decaying ones. In this case the outside privvy.
When the building is the focus of your work take time out to consider it's position carefully. Castles and manor houses are more often built on a hill both for reasons of defence and as a status symbol to look down on their neighbours. Where as a cosy humble cottage can be placed in a sheltered lower position emphasizing it's lowly condition in life shying from the harsh world.
To position the building on the flat and level with the viewer, the doorway of the building should be placed so that if a man stood in it his eye line would coincide with that of the horizon, fig 1. To elevate the status of the building raise the doorway above the horizon, fig 2. To lower the status bring it below, fig 3.
Remember that the vanishing points of your building will be on the horizon line, wherever you place the building.
If I paint the castle above I want to alter the angle of view to see more of the front. The first step is to redraw the castle altogether. The vanishing points are often a long way off the page making this kind of work difficult if you are pushed for space. For this reason I use my computer to construct the basic drawing and then print off the portion I require larger for painting, it is also much easier to erase any unwanted lines.
To begin with I have placed the horizon low and marked the corner of the building further to the right.
Next mark the construction lines for the base of the building and the roof line.
Add the central line that marks the 1st floor and the ends of the building.
The towers are prominent to the building so another couple of lines.
With a few more construction lines we can begin to block the building in.
At this point I will erase most of the lines as they become very confusing, I do of course keep the vanishing points. Leaving the way clear to add yet more.
Follow the lesson on perspective to get the features correctly spaced and the arches looking right using the photo as reference.
When a building is a distance away it is not necessary to portray every little detail. In this early work I patiently counted every brick and tile, painting each individually, I now consider the detail over fussy.
In this later piece texture is suggested with dry brush work.
Here the texture of the ruins are depicted with wet in wet.
Only a minimum of detail is required to describe a building.
Distant walls can be suggested with a few spots of colour dropped into the base wash of appropriate colour.
As they come forward in the picture plane the odd brick can be picked out.
In this close up a base wash of raw sienna was applied; and when dry, the mortar was protected with masking fluid. The basic brick colour was washed in and various tones added wet in wet. Finally after removing the masking fluid a few shadows were suggested.
Depicting windows can be a problem for the beginner. Have a good look at your own windows. In daylight only face on will you see the contents behind the glass,
with the slightest of angle reflections will begin to show.
At ground level these are of the immediate surroundings whilst the upstairs will reflect mostly or all sky, unless there are tall features such as trees or buildings in close proximity.
Here I have simply wet the window panes and dropped in the reflections.
At night when the light is stronger behind the glass you can see some of the room contents.
Step by step snowscene
Abandoned buildings like this shack, can be an eyesore for most people, but treated with the delicacy of watercolour it can become a charming Christmas card.
Colours
French Ultramarine
Raw Sienna
Burnt Umber
Hookers Green
Scarlet Lake
Brushes
Goats Hair
Number 10 round
Number 4 Round
plus
an old brush and
Masking Fluid
Step 1
Lightly sketch out the scene as depicted at the top of this chapter, mask the roof and post tops. With the goats hair brush use a weak wash of Raw sienna down to the top of the hills adding a touch of scarlet lake towards the bottom. As the glisten goes from the wet paper use a number 10 round and a stronger mix of ultramarine blue with raw sienna to drop in the misty firs on the hill top.
Step 2
Add just a touch of ultramarine to the sky mix and with a weak wash and dry brush technique suggest some shadows on the background hills. Wet the area immediately behind the house and drop in further firs with a mix of french ultramarine, raw sienna and just a touch of hookers green. The purpose of these trees is to make the roof stand out, don't make them too tall or they will dominate the building.
Step 3
Wash the walls with a weak raw sienna/burnt umber. With burnt umber only loosely paint in the wooden slats vertically on the gable end horizontally on the front avoiding the window. Before this dries use a little french ultramarine to mark the shadows of the eaves.
Step 4
Wet the area of the door and drop in a strong mix of burnt umber/french ultramarine at the top so that it spreads and becomes lighter towards the bottom of the door. Repeat with the window. Wait until dry and using the same strong mix and the tip of a number 4 round describe the splits in the old wood.
Use burnt umber with a hint of ultramarine for the door posts and window frame. Add a little more french ultramarine and paint the fence posts with dry strokes leaving flecks of white for snow.
Step 5
Using a mix of french ultramarine with a little scarlet lake create a blue violet in a weak wash and mark the shadows of the building, posts and tree. Bear in mind that the sun is setting low in the sky and shadows are longer.
When everything is completely dry remove the masking fluid.
Using the same weak violet add touches of shadow on the snow at the eaves and post tops.
Copyright Jane Grainger 2004
