Southampton Common tree by path in Autumn - WIP stages
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| Stages of a painting of a tree at the entrance to Southampton city common. |
A tree in Autumn features in this
seasonal landscape study. The tree is one to be found within
Southampton Common, Hampshire, near to the entrance.
Shown in the picture above are four
stages of the painting. In the first, the basic scene has been drawn
out in brown acrylics on a yellow ochre flat colour, also done in
acrylics. A basic indication of shading has been added. The second
panel has some colour added in the way of a wash of diluted oil
colour, used to indicate areas of colour and tone. These are not the
final painted colours for now, and are left to dry. Moving on to the
3rd panel it can be seen that paint has been applied
heavier on to the painting, over the previous, dried layers. These
colours are now truer to the intended tone and the painting has
become more detailed in these areas. The final panel shows the
completed work, with all the final layer of paint applied. A
additional stage was to give most of the painting a 'glaze', which is
where a further level is applied in the form of translucent colours
mixed with a clear painting medium. It is similar to stained glass,
though not as strong, but this helps to enhance the colours when seen
by the human eye as light travels through the extra layer, hits the
underlying area and bounces back. A camera does not see this effect
however when a photograph is taken.
On other point of interest is that the
support (canvas) is home made. This is to say that un-primed canvas
material was purchased from a fabric shop and then fixed to a wooden
stretcher bar, home made from scraps of wood. Once the canvas was
stretched tight over the wooden stretcher bar, it was primed ready
for painting. It was found that the painting surface was quite
smooth.
The painting can be seen in greater
detail by following this link.
