Reflecting on the Anatomy of Trees

Have you ever really looked at a tree? This time of the year is the best time to observe the shape and nature of trees when there are no leaves on them. Look out your window right now and set your eyes on the nearest tree. Are you looking? Good. Now, consider that all trees have an anatomical structure just like people. The main branches emerge from the trunk and support smaller branches as they reach toward the sky. How does your tree stand? Is it straight, does it lean, does it twist, and if so, in what direction? Where are the curves?

The Trunk

Ask yourself what the color temperature of the trunk is, i.e., is it warm or cool? The time of day and whether it is sunny or cloudy will affect the color temperature. If the sun is hitting it on one side, that side will be a warm temperature, while the shadow will be a cool temperature. On cloudy days, the vague shadows are slightly warmer than the lighted side.

Now, look at its texture. Is it smooth or rough? A beech tree has a smooth bark, while a maple is decidedly rough with vertical ridges. If you were painting a beech tree, you would want to paint the trunk in a horizontal motion, following the curve of the trunk to simulate a smooth texture. When painting the maple on the other hand, you would use large vertical strokes to emphasize the rough ridges of the bark that flow in vertical directions.

The Branches

Now look at the branches. How do they grow? Do they curve upward majestically like an elm or do they grow at sharp angles like a sycamore? Branches help to balance a tree. If the trunk leans to one side, often a branch will counter balance it on the other.

Also, notice that branches don’t just reach out from the trunk in profile. Branches reach out from all sides of a trunk, so remember to paint branches that both go toward you and behind the tree away from you. Paint the branches with a lot of movement in them, avoid painting them parallel to one another, and vary their size. Look at how branches are attached to the trunk and other branches. They don’t suddenly and sharply emerge from them. Instead, they gracefully grow with a slight curve upward and out.

The Base and Roots

Finally, notice how the trunk emerges from the ground. It doesn’t stick straight up like a utility pole. The base spreads out in all directions and sweeps upward in a curve, bearing the weight of the branches above. Be sure to consider the roots as they reach into the ground and how the grass grows around them.

The Art of Framing

Recently, I had the pleasure to sit down and talk to George Aresco and his son, Dan, from Wholesale Frame Company in Meriden, about framing.  I discovered that a lot of decisions depend on personal taste. However, when pressed, George admitted that there’s a difference when selecting the frames for contemporary work, traditional realism, plein air and impressionistic work.

There’s an advantage to taking your artwork to a professional frame shop, especially one that has a good reputation. Frame shops offer personal service, years of experience, and the best equipment. They work with amateur and professional artists and collectors on a daily basis.

There’s no limit as to the types of art that can be framed. Even personal items can be set into shadow boxes. Choosing a frame is partly a personal preference. However, you should select a frame that compliments the artwork, but not be too overwhelming. Generally, you want to put abstract work in contemporary frames, and traditional realistic work in frames that may have some raised detail. 

Selecting a Frame

Choosing a frame is partly a personal preference. However, you should select a frame that compliments the artwork, but not be too overwhelming. Generally, you want to put abstract work in contemporary frames, and traditional realistic work in frames that may have some raised detail. The best frames are made of wood. Some are painted or stained, and some are coated with a resin finish to give a unique look. Less expensive frames are made of composites, but over time, they don’t hold up as well as wood.

When it comes to selecting the color of the finish, you should choose colors or finishes that are consistent with the rest of the artwork that you have, especially when you are presenting a show of your work at a gallery or exhibition. If you have five or six different types and colors of frames, they can detract from the artwork and confuse the viewer. Renovating old frames can be done, but it’s not easy to do. You can stain them, paint them, and try to put gold leaf on them, which is not easy to do. It’s very difficult to match color, especially golds.

The width of the frame for most traditional styles should be between two and three inches, for artwork eight by ten inches and up. Plein air artwork should have a plain flat look, and be about one inch high in thickness. Be careful when choosing frames with decorative designs that they don’t overwhelm the artwork. Contemporary pieces look good with narrow, simple frames.  

Be sure to check the dimensions of your canvas. Often, canvas is not square. To ensure a correct canvas size, measure it diagonally from corner to corner. Canvas may loosen as it is exposed to changes to humidity and paint. Use keys (those little wooden triangular pieces) to tighten a canvas snugly to the stretcher.

Offset Clips

Attaching Hardware

When securing artwork to a frame, use offset clips and screw it only into the frame. The part that sits on the artwork should fit snugly on top of it. This allows the artwork to shift with changes in temperature and humidity. 

When wiring a picture, the screw eyes or D-rings should be placed one third down from the top of the frame. The wire should be double wound on each end of the screw eye or D-ring and be loose enough to form a thirty-degree triangle when hung.

Substrates and Glass

When matting watercolors, pencil drawings and pastels, you should use acid free mats for longevity. Select a neutral color such as white or cream so as not to detract from the artwork. A second mat that has a hint of color that matches a color in the artwork is also popular. The mat acts as a spacer to keep the artwork away from the glass. This is preferable to prevent mold from forming. Never use cardboard as a substrate. Its acidity will burn and transfer its texture onto the artwork.

There are different types of glass that will provide various levels of protection.

• Premium clear blocks up to 40 percent of UV light.
• Ultra Vue UV70 blocks up to 70 percent of UV light and has an optical coating to reflections.
• Conservation clear blocks 99 percent of UV light
• Museum glass blocks 99 percent of UV light and has an optical coating to eliminate reflection.

For more information on glass, go to Tru Vue.

Never put glass over canvas paintings.  Canvas needs to breathe. Also, never cover the back of the canvas. 

The Seven Elements of Design

There are seven elements of design, considered to be the building blocks that all modes of art are based. The seven elements are Line, Shape, Form, Space, Texture, Value and Color. If you are an art student, you should look for these elements when designing your artwork. If you are an appreciator of art, you should seek these elements when you observe art.

Line

Lines are points in space where the length is greater than the width. They mark the distance between two points and can be straight or curved. In visual art, lines don't only need to be made with marks and outlines, but can also be implied or abstract. They can be used to create shape and form, as well as give a sense of depth and structure. Lines are the foundation of drawing and stand alone as a powerful visual tool. Depending on the types of lines—continuous, broken, vertical, jagged, horizontal—you can drastically change the feeling of an artwork.

Shape

Shape is the result of closed, two-dimensional flat lines. They can be geometric, such as squares or triangles, or they can be organic, have no defined parameters and are more curved and abstract. Shapes in art can be used to control how the viewer perceives a piece. For instance, triangles can help draw the eye to a particular point, while circles represent continuity.

Form

When a shape acquires depth and becomes three-dimensional, then it takes on form. Cylinders, pyramids, and spheres are some of the more common forms, though they can also be amorphous. In sculpture, form is of the utmost importance, though it can easily be introduced into drawing and painting using 3D art techniques.

Space

pace can be manipulated based on how an artist places lines, shapes, forms, and color. Space can be either positive or negative. Positive space is an area occupied by an object or form, while negative space is an area that runs between, through, around, or within objects. Artists often think about the foreground, middle ground, and background of their artwork, purposefully placing shapes and lines throughout the space to achieve the perfect composition.

Texture

Texture is how an object looks or feels. Sometimes texture is tangible, such as in sculpture. It also can be implied, as for example a sketch of the fur on an animal. Smooth, rough, hard, soft, furry, fluffy, and bumpy are just some different textures that evoke different responses.

Value

Value is the lightness or darkness in color. The lightest value is white and the darkest value is black. The difference between values is contrast. The lightest value is white and the darkest value is black, with the difference between them defined as the contrast. Playing with value can not only change certain forms, but also influence the mood of the artwork.

Value is so important that the Italians created a term—chiaroscuro—that specifically refers to the use of light and dark in a piece of art. Photographer Ansel Adams is an example of an artist who expertly used value to his advantage by using areas of contrast to create interest in his landscape photography.

Color

By working with hue, value, and intensity—three building blocks of colors—artists can tap into a wide range of emotions. There's nothing that changes an artwork's emotional impact more than color. Masters like Van Gogh, Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec all expertly manipulated color in their art to provoke different feelings. Color can be used symbolically or to create a pattern. It can be selected for contrast or to set a specific mood.

Snow: Winter’s Whipped Cream

I love to paint snow scenes. Snow makes an otherwise monotonous winter landscape come alive. To me, there’s nothing more beautiful than a snow-covered bank on a meandering stream on a bright sunny day. It’s like putting whipped cream on an otherwise ordinary piece of pie!

Now don’t get me wrong, going out and painting plein air in frigid conditions is not exactly fun, but I’ve learned to gear up properly and I don’t waste any time when I’m out standing in snow and ice in thirty-degree weather. I usually prep my canvas and lay out my palette with paint in the comfort of my warm home.

A Bend in the River

Gearing Up

For clothing, I bring my blizzard boots, the tall ones with two-inch soles that look like hand-me-downs from Frankenstein. I also wear long johns under my sweat pants and my long, quilted paint-stained hooded coat and hat. My only concession is that I’m limited on how warm I can keep my hands, so even with thin cotton gloves covered by nylon gloves, they do go numb after a while. I figure it’s an incentive to work fast and have a good plan. I do a value drawing, take photos, and then work quickly, laying in the darks and large shapes first, making sure I get the most exciting parts of the scene. I usually spend from two and a half to three hours capturing the highlights and engraving the picture in my memory, then I beat feet to the heat and finish it in my studio.

Tips for Painting Snow

Here are a few things to consider when painting snow scenes:

Shadows

The shadows and texture of snow can change depending on the weather conditions and time of day. A cloudy day can create a creamy, orangey hue, while a bright sunny day can give off cool blue hues.

Shadows in the snow will have more light within them than typical shadows. Notice how light reflects on tiny peaks and drifts and how foreground shadows can appear very, very blue. You will almost never see pure white in a snowy landscape, but a wide range of different hues and values.

Snow Blanked Field

Surroundings

Keep in mind that snow will absorb or reflect the colors surrounding it. For instance, the shadows in snow will often reflect what it happening in the sky.

The Sky

Large areas of snow will reflect the sky if there is nothing else around.

• If the sky is bright blue, your snow should be a more subdued reflection of that hue.
• If the sky is gray with clouds, your largest areas of snow will be gray.
• If it is dusk, your snow may appear pink and purple in reflection of the fading winter sunset.

Winter Marsh at Town Field

Distance

White tends to appear warmer as it recedes, so incorporate yellows and pinks into your snow as it travels into the distances towards the horizon.

Return to purple and blue shadows in the farthest distance.

In the foreground, the closer whites will require blue hues. The middle ground in a snowy landscape tends to have a purplish hue; shadows also tend to appear blueish and purple.

Brightening Whites

Use a tiny dot of Cadmium Orange to make the snow appear whiter. A very tiny dot. Small specks of orange, placed in the right area or areas can really make the white pop. Using orange tints in your trees or other plants, as well as dark blue accents, can also make the snow look whiter relative to those hues.

“A color will frequently generate its own complement. In the winter, if there is a greenish sky, the snow will look pink and its shadows will appear blue-green.”                       - Emile A Gruppé

Our Feathered Friends

One of the most popular subjects in oil painting is that of a warm-blooded vertebra covered with feathers and usually sporting a beak. Also known collectively as birds, these interesting feathered creatures range in all manner of variety and size from exotic South American and African showstoppers to swamp creatures with large feathery combs and long spindly legs, to proud strutting peacocks and honking geese and graceful swans, to the more commonly spotted sea birds, chickens and roosters, and the endless variety of songbirds that visit our feeders every winter. I’ve painted a number of them over the years and still enjoy seeing them come to life on my canvas.

Piero

I’ve also taught several workshops on painting different species of birds over the years. Some considerations when painting birds include:

1. Start loose, cover large shapes and then refine.
2. Alternate your colors, tones, and values to create an engaging contrast on the surface.
3. Make sure that your strokes move in the direction that your feathers lay. Layering is key here to get an effective feather look.
4. Choose a complementary background.

Cardinal in Snow

Proud Rooster

House Finch in Verbena Bush

Drawing the Adult Head

Drawing and painting an adult portrait can be daunting at first, but it need not be. If you understand proportions, you can begin to get a good idea of where to place facial features.

One of the easiest ways to figure out the proportion of a face’s features is to begin with a basic egg shape and divide it into thirds, starting at the hairline and ending at the chin. The top third will fall between the hairline and just below the center of the eyes.

A third of the way down from the eyes is the bottom of the nose, which lies halfway between the eyes and the chin. The bottom third is the area between the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin.

Dividing further, the bottom of the lip lies approximately halfway between the bottom of the nose and the chin. The length of the ears extends from brow line to bottom of the nose.

Looking straight at the face, if you draw a line straight down from the middle of the eye, you will touch the edge of the lips. There is one eye width between the eyes, with the head being approximately five eyes wide. If you draw a line straight down from the tear ducts, you will touch the outer edge of the nose.

In profile, the head fits a square. If you draw a horizontal line through the halfway point of your square, it will pass through the lower part of the eye, while a vertical drawn through the halfway point will pass directly in front of the ear.

Not all heads are the same, and head shapes and sizes vary with age. Use these measurements merely as points of reference to compare to your model and make adjustments where necessary. For example, your model may have a high forehead or a wider jaw.

 

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“The reason some portraits don't look true to life is that some people make no effort to resemble their pictures."

-       Salvador Dali

Bones and Muscles: The Foundation of the Human Body

To continue on the subject of anatomy, we’ll compare the male and female skeleton and muscles of the human body. Most artists will eventually be challenged with drawing a human figure or portrait. Figures are added to landscapes to depict daily life, record events in history, display symbols of religious faith, and to simply make a statement. Well before photography became popular, portraits provided a historic record and a status symbol of a person’s worth. Then as today, a well-done portrait captures the personality of the subject. As an artist, it’s important to understand the underlying structure of the body and its proportions before you tackle figure or portrait drawing or painting. When you gain this understanding, you will have a strong foundation that will look original, natural and convincing.

The Human Body

Capable of performing all types of tasks, flexible and strong, renewable, and self-governing, the human body has the resilience that is unmatched by any manmade machine. Cartilage and muscles are the glue that hold bones together and upright and aid in movement, with the bones bearing a body’s weight and acting as protectors for the eyes, brain, inner throat, heart, lungs and other organs.

Differences Between Male and Female Skeletons

Though men and women share a few structural similarities such as bone types and muscular shapes, there are quite a few differences.

The male skeleton’s shoulders are set wider while their hips are narrower. The jaw is more prominent than a female’s, and the neck thicker. The arm muscles in the male are larger and more evident than a female’s muscle structure. The hands are larger, the muscles and bone structure of the fingers more prominent.

 

The wider hips, longer waistline, lower and larger buttocks, along with more defined thighs and a wider pelvis of the female are designed to support the extra weight of carrying a child. Other than the thighs and buttocks, the female’s muscles are generally less noticeable. Additional shapely differences between a female and male body, besides the obvious ones such as hair and breasts, are the female’s thighs, which are flatter and wider, and the female’s feet, calves, ankles and wrists, which are smaller and more delicate.

Abstract drawing of the proportions of an ideal female figure.

Proportions

When drawing the male figure, the ideal proportions are at least eight heads tall, with the navel and the elbow landing on the fifth head position. The waist is slightly wider than one head unit, and the space between the nipples is one head. The male figure is two and a third head units wide. The ideal proportions for the female figure are from seven and a half to eight heads, with the navel falling below the fifth head slightly, and the breast nipples centering at the sixth head. The waistline is one head unit wide, and the wrists are even with the crotch. The width of the female figure is two heads.

“It is impossible to draw the clothed or draped figure without a knowledge of the structure and form of the figure underneath. The artist who cannot put the figure together properly does not have one chance in a thousand of success-either as a figure draftsman or as a painter.”

- Andrew Loomis