Diana K. Gibson

This is a brief presentation on premixing the DuMond landscape color strings.  Please click the video to view.  Video is also available for viewing at  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YSYjZYkoemM

Getting outside to paint en plein aire this summer has really been a challenge since the majority of this summer has been subject to much heavy rainfall. This piece was actually started on a misty rainy day and was worked on over a period of a few days. In the past my plein aire work was completed in one session however lately I have taken a different approach and have started to work on the same piece over a span of a few days. That means I start a picture and then return to the same site at the same time of day under the same lighting conditions until I consider the painting finished. This new approach has been beneficial for me because I have learned considerably more through intensive direct observation. I have also taken a new approach in modifying my palette in hopes to create more saturated naturalistic vibrant colors.

This still life is currently in progress and it is my first endeavor to truly break away and do something quite different from my past work. Instead of pounding away at a piece and trying to finish it alla prima, I have slowed down considerably on this one and have taken much more time to analyze the subject and painting. The finished painting turned out pretty well if I may say so myself. :)

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...

AMERICAN ARTIST  magazine showcased one of my works to announce their on-line plein air painting contest  Showcase Your State .  The painting "Springtime in the NJ Highlands" can be found in the February 2009 edition of AMERICAN ARTIST  magazine.

Sometimes I find that setting up a still life is the most complicated part of painting. Trying to find the right combination of textures, colors, surfaces etc. can drive me bats. Then there is the composition. For whatever reason I have a tendency to keep my compositions simple. Perhaps there is beauty in simplicity, who knows. Well once all of the still life objects are set up and a pleasing composition is arrived upon, I work to set up the easel. A toned linen canvas is placed upon the easel and the palette is prepared. Time is taken to prepare the palette and as you can see in the pictures, lots of paint is mixed. After the palette is prepped, a rough sketch is made upon the canvas and once the drawing is place then the painting process begins.

Alla prima is a painting technique that means "at first." An artist completes a painting in one sitting. This grouping of photos shows how I start an alla prima painting. I first prepare my palette by laying out the colors according to their value (degree of lightness or darkness.) Once the colors are laid out I start to mix piles of colors. These piles of color help me to cover the canvas quickly. I always make it a point to take the ten minutes to prepare my palette ensuring that I always have enough prepared mixed pigment available. Time is of the essence and I find more time is lost trying to remix or reclaim a particular mixture of colors. Ergo, the desire for a prepared palette. The painting is started with a rudimentary drawing. Thereafter with a loaded brush, the shadows are massed followed by the addition of the light masses. I am extremely careful to keep my shadow brushes separate from my light brushes. That is a few brushes are strictly designated for paintin...