Lawn Chair vs Light Painting

I came up the driveway a while ago to this scene — this beautiful stream of light was trying to swallow a vintage lawn chair whole. It was blinding when I took off my sunglasses because the entire scene was white, the chair, the driveway, the latticework, the light. I immediately thought: I've got to paint this because absolutely none of this is actually white. I've got to take a closer look. The thing that's fun and so challenging is capturing those colors and shapes so quickly before the sun moves too much. All of those little shadow shapes that were cast on the ground had to be placed just so, and the reflections and hot spots had to be just right. In that light, it felt almost alive. If they aren't right, nothing is right. But mostly, it was the color values and temperatures with this one. The whole left side of the chair is a cooler turquoise sort of white. I used Prussian Blue as my cool blue that day. The back of the chair was almost glowing, the sun was warming it so much and like always, Ultramarine Blue is the perfect warm blue. The two blues met somewhere in the right corner of the seat where light met shadow. You can see that lavender color running along the arm, the other arm is more turquoise in the shadow. Painters are trained to see these colors all day every day. It's what I train my students to do. We have to see color values and temperatures to make things look dimensional and realistic but where it really gets fun is when you do it plein air, outside and the light (and your shadows and your colors) are moving and changing on you constantly so you have to learn to deal with it without chasing it. It is absolutely the best learning experience you can have as a painter. I can't recommend it enough.

Painting:Oil on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:16 W x 20 H x 2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.