Quent Cordair Fine Art

The next step in the cityscape was to paint the lights and atmospheric effects. I began by mixing a glaze of linseed oil, stand oil (sun thickened linseed oil), and a small amount of ivory black and ultramarine blue (the pigments help speed the drying of the oils, and add to the strength of the oil film). This glaze was brushed in a very thin, even coat over the entire area. Next I used different mixes of zinc white, ultramarine blue and ivory black to blend in the fog and blown snow between the buildings, and in the foreground (zinc white is quite transparent compared to titanium or flake white. This allows it to be blended into the oil glaze smoothly, and lends the look of fog and snow.) Using zinc white, titanium white, cadmium red, and cadmium yellow I then blended in the lights of the city in several layers. First a layer of dim, diffused lights painted mostly in zinc white, then increasingly opaque layers building up to the brightest lights.

I had intended to paint some falling snowflakes in the extreme foreground, but decided to wait until the room was painted to see if it was necessary for the feel of the storm outside.

Unfortunately, the digital image of the piece does not quite convey the color and subtlety of the original painting, but then it never quite does.

I am really quite excited to be finally blocking in the final colors for the new piece. I am beginning with the view of the city in the snowstorm, outside the window, as it is in the extreme background, and is overlapped by all other elements in the painting. The first step is to block in the basic colors and shapes of both the buildings and the illumination of the snow by the lights of the city. I am working in ivory black, ultramarine blue, titanium white and just a hint of yellow ochre (the ochre grays the colors just a bit to help them recede into the background.)

At this point, historically, I encounter a lot of questions about whether or not the power is out in the city. It is not. The next step will be to begin blending in the diffused lights of the windows and aircraft warning lights on the buildings. Depending on how close the building is to the viewer, and on the height to which it extends into the storm, the lights will vary in clarity of focus and brightness. Once that step is complete (it may require blending some other colors into the sky near the buildings), the final step in the cityscape will be to paint in the nearest snowflakes to the window which are illuminated by the light of the room. I may go back once all of the previous layers are dry, and glaze in some fog and cloud cover between the buildings and between the window and the city.

The funny thing about the art business is that you never know when a little project will present itself. Several months may go by uneventfully, and then suddenly, as in the case of the last few weeks, there is more work than can be done. In any event, I have finally been able to get back to work on my current “big” project, which has been taunting me from the corner of my studio since the last post.

Still working in Burnt Umber and Black, I finished blocking in the values for the majority of the composition. Some of the most difficult lighting issues had to be resolved at this point, namely the interplay of light and shadow between the figure and the chair (as mentioned earlier, I am working from a number of photographic references, none of which feature the model sitting in the actual chair that will be in the final painting). After a bit of tweaking, I am quite satisfied with the result, and the painting is now ready for the final color and detail work to begin.

I am finally back to work on this piece after a brief hiatus to complete another small project. Continuing to work in washes of Burnt Umber and Ivory Black, and referring to several different photographic references (I generally take many photos of the model in the same pose; some close-ups of the head, hands, etc. and some just in case a slight difference in posture or expression shows up in one photo that isn’t in the others) I am beginning to block in the values of the figure. This can be a bit tricky, as the thin washes of color tend to be a bit choppy which works well for blockish architectural elements, but not so well for the face and hands. To overcome this problem I work with several layers of paint, each light in pigment, gradually building up to the darkest values. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the result. The figure is emerging, and already the expression is tending toward what I had in mind. The lighting is working out quite well also, and I am beginning to think that it will not be as difficult as I at first imagined to integrate the different reference materials for the stone, the chair, the model, etc. into a coherent piece.

With this painting, I am trying a new technique. Because of the extreme contrast between light and shadow in this piece, and due to the fact that I will be working from numerous and varied pieces of reference material, some in different lighting than the painting (namely the stone for the fireplace and the hardwood flooring), I am blocking in the values (lights and darks) for the entire painting in burnt umber and black washes before beginning to work on the correct coloring and textures of the different pieces of the composition. This is a technique I have not tried before on a piece of this size or complexity, but so far I am pleased with the results.

The reason I have chosen to work with burnt umber and ivory black for the under-painting is that both colors are safe for under-painting from a structural standpoint, that is they both dry to form tough, yet flexible films, they both dry rapidly, and both are low in their oil content (you may have heard the term ‘rich over lean’ used with respect to the practice of painting with a greater oil content on successive layers of a painting…this can significantly reduce the cracking that occurs in all oil paintings over time). Also, the burnt umber is quite warm, and begins to give the piece the comfortable feel I want from the fire-lit scene, while the ivory black is darker and more opaque giving better coverage and control of value than the burnt umber alone.

I feel I should mention here that most artists, myself included, are a little hesitant to show off works in progress. There are inevitably elements of the piece that don’t go smoothly on the first attempt and require re-working. So please, feel free to ask any questions you may have, or make any comments about things that are bothering you or pleasing you about the progress of the piece, but keep in mind that nothing at this point is in its final stage.