Skip to main content

A Sunrise Painting Tale



Above are pictures depicting mixing colors. These colors were pre-mixed with the intent to paint a sunrise. The palette was prepared the night before and a dark toned panel was selected. My gear was readied and awaited the morning. The start to my day went a little differently than planned. At 4:30 AM the house woke to two cats hissing and growling outside in the yard below. Being up earlier than planned afforded time to watch the very early dawn of the day. The sky was still dark but there were tell tale signs that the sun was soon to rise. Quick preparations and a short walk down the road, my gear was set up and I stood waiting for the magical moment for when the sun would break over the horizon. Knowing speed is critical for painting a sunrise, the land masses were massed in and I anticipated the sky to burst into color. I glanced over my shoulder to track the progress of the sun in the sky when I noticed a cloud bank moving up towards the sun. In the distance a large bank of fog was visible. The first light of the day started to illuminate the sky overhead and a very very faint glow of rosy pink touched upon the wispy clouds in the distance. Then it happened. The fog moved inland and shrouded the sun. The plan to paint a sunrise was disappearing in the fog! I frantically painted in the water and the sky before everything was lost behind a veil of moisture. In a matter of minutes the fog enveloped the bay and obscured everything from view. The painting session was probably about 20 minutes or so and I was thankful that I had taken the time to prepare my palette etc. The preparation helped me to paint quickly. To be candid I was a bit disappointed to not have painted a glowing sunrise but on the other hand I was happy to have experienced such a unique moment something that I may have not seen otherwise. It is moments like these that stay with you and make for an interesting tale. An image of the painting from that morning is below.

Comments

  1. Beautiful! What intense preparation goes into this type of painting!!! I never knew...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Techie Trekie! Yes it is true, there is a lot of prep work involved with plein air painting!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding the DuMond palette-A brief tutorial

Many of my students ask me, "what is this palette that you are teaching me?" To which I reply "a palette that my teacher's teacher's teacher developed some time ago long before you and I were born." Of course this explanation fetches some curious looks, but in truth, the palette has been handed down through the generations from teacher to student. Fortunately it was handed down to me and happily I am handing it down to a future generation of aspiring artists. At first glance, the prismatic palette appears to be of a complex nature with many colors. As shown above it proffers an array of a multitude of manufactured and premixed colors laid out in strings according to values. The top string of colors are manufactured pigments ranging from white, yellow, orange, red, blue, and black. The rest of the palette is comprised of pre-mixed colors in eight equal steps of light gray to dark gray, eight equal steps of light blue to dark blue and eight equal steps of li

DuMond Prismatic Landscape Palette

  Back in March of 2018 I decided to recreate the DuMond Prismatic Landscape Palette Chart and donate it to the Ridgewood Art Institute.    That’s me above in the video creating the new chart. The original chart that we used was made by Joe Paquet.  As you can see it was heavily used and covered in paint swatches.    This made it difficult to discern the original values and colors that lay underneath. The new chart is much easier to read and will provide many years of use. It was nice to get a nod by former Board Member Ed Horvath of the Ridgewood Art Institute for my contribution to furthering the Frank Vincent DuMond, Arthur F. Maynard, and John P. Osborne legacy at the Ridgewood Art Institue. 

Art Classes in Midland Park, NJ

Diana K. Gibson teaches  Oil Painting, Landscape, Seascape, Still Life and Portrait for Adults and Teens. For more information regarding the following classes, please contact us.  All classes are ongoing throughout the year unless noted otherwise.  Students may join at anytime.  Oil Painting & Sketching: Portrait, Still Life & Landscape  $110 a month for either evening $200 a month for both evenings  $35 for drop in session  For students painting from the model, there is a shared model fee When: Wednesdays and Thursdays  Where: 11 Paterson Avenue 
Midland Park, NJ  Time: 7:30pm - 9:30pm Plein Air Oil Painting on Location  $40 per session When: Saturday or Sunday mornings (contingent upon weather conditions) Where: Locations provided to enrolled students  Time: 8:30am - 10:30am New: Announcing Classes for Teens and Young People coming this Fall.  Contact : To register for classes or to obtain  more information contact us at (201)562-6016 or email us at dianakgibson