In today’s post I wanted to share with you an oil painting demo |The Old Window surrounded by Wisteria and geraniums growing in a planter box. This is in my impressionist style, but it’s still similar in approach to how I start a more detailed work.
The first step is to establish my drawing using a small flat bristle rush and thinned paint using turpenoid and a mix of raw sienna + ultramarine blue. You can click on the images to enlarge.
Next using a thin mixture of ultramarine blue + Alizarin Crimson I make a dark purple to block in the interior of the window panes. The upper section is in shadow thus darker.
Next I start painting in the wall with a thin mix of various orange hued tones modified with purple (Alizarin and Ultramarine) Also I indicate the wisteria vine. The light direction is coming from the upper right indicated by the cast shadow of the window planter box.
I now begin applying some thicker applications of paint to the wall and establish some color for the planter box. I don’t paint all of it, because some of it will be covered with greenery.
I continue adding more color and texture to the wall and the frame around the window. I want my painting to have the appearance of an aged wall.
Here I’ve turned my attention to the window panes still using various mixes of the ultramarine and alizarin. I also added a little transparent oxide red into the darker area to warm the temperature. A little white is added to the violet mix, with a little more ultramarine to shift it to a blue violet for the lower half.
Now I block in some green foliage in the planter box. More yellow green for the light area, cooler greens for the shadow.
I now add my geraniums. Cadmium red light with a pinch of white + cadmium orange for the light side and cadmium red light + alizarin crimson for the shadow with a speck of blue, but not too much. I also finish out the foliage in the planter box and work on the shadows under neath the box. Next using a small soft flat brush I make short vertical strokes indicating the wisteria blooms using Dioxine Purple + a little white but not too much. Highlights will be added, so this color represents the dark shadowed portion of the blooms.
I continue working on the wisteria vine by adding some texture to the blooms. I used a small soft flat brush with a good edge on it and made some horizontal marks using the same base color for the blooms of Dioxine Purple and white. You’ll notice a few highlights on the blooms in the middle area of the window.
I continue adding highlights on the blooms with a lighter mix of Dioxine Purple and white. I also add some of the vine to connect the blooms. They don’t float in space! In most instances in working with flowers like this it’s best to put the flowers in first and greenery later as you will see in the final step.
Finally I add the greenery of the wisteria vine and some thick opaque yellow green highlights near the mid section of flowers in front of the window. A few thicker applications of paint for the geranium blooms in the sunlight and a few modifications here and there. This painting was completed in one painting session without having to let it dry between stages. This was due to having started with thinner mixtures of paint with turpenoid and a little medium and then thicker applications on top with some Liquin Impasto medium added to the paint. This accelerates the drying of the thicker paint applications.
I hope you enjoyed the oil painting demo | The Old Window!
For further instruction you may enjoy my eBook titled: Creating a Sense of Place in Landscape Painting.
The Old Window painting and two below were featured in one of my eBay auctions. If you would like to receive notices about future auctions, be sure to sign up to receive my periodic update newsletter.
“Little Fellow” 12×9 Oil by Byron copyright 2015 click here for a larger view
The Old Wagon 12×12 canvas size 8.5×8.5 image size by Byron copyright 2015.Click here for a larger view.