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 I was impressed with David Lake’s exhibition David Lake: Feet of Clay, at the Bathurst Regional Gallery - March to May. His interesting works full of light and extended horizons capture the big skies, mood and atmosphere of the Australian landscape. He has been inspired by the scorched earth and clear horizon lines of far west NSW, utilising this subject matter and transmuting it into works of art.
When I realised that he was running a workshop in Bathurst for one day, I joined the waiting list. Luckily I got in when someone cancelled out.
The workshop ran from 9:30am to 4:00pm. David was demonstrating the process for a landscape painting that he had completed and we followed step by step. Of course everyone’s work ended up differently but it was useful to follow the process of another artist to learn what they are using as references in making their art work.
We started by using simple gridlines, dividing a photo and our canvas into four. This was our guide for sketching in lightly the position of the most important areas of the painting. David talked about how to make a balanced composition by making sure it was “unbalanced”.
“The composition of any artwork needs to be visually pleasing. The word 'balanced' is often used in this regard. A balanced composition is however, in reality, unbalanced or put in other words – avoid symmetry. Consider the placement of the focal point, line and shape, unity and contrast of horizontal and vertical.”
After sketching in the main areas we proceeded to mix our dark using Australian Red Violet and Ultramarine Blue, which created a lovely rich dark.
David very generously also gave us examples of his earlier works and used them as critiques of what NOT to do. This was very useful as it bought home to me the points he was making.
Example 1 (1981)
David indicated the painting below as a perfect example of how NOT to compose a painting.
Pointing out the rather vacant middle section that effectively splits the painting into what is essentially two separate paintings in one. The composition lacks unity with work required to link the two sides together and form a unified whole.
 Example 2 (1986)
David regards this piece as being close to monochromatic as the entire painting, with the exception of the distant hill, is simply a range of browns.
In respect to tone there is little variation in the values between the trees on the right and the tree mass to the left that results in a rather dull landscape.
The overuse of brown is perhaps the result of too much reliance on the reference photograph.
Example 3 (1986)
This work has a better composition with the main points of interest, being the trees and farm buildings, grouped together.
Greater detail in the immediate foreground also helps with recession. On the negative side the clouds lack tonal variation and appear somewhat flat.
 Example 4 (1998)
This painting is demonstrating a greater variety of tonal values and a better understanding of colour. David considered that the composition could have been improved if the focal point had been better placed.
Cooler colours are used in the background and warmer colours in the foreground which emphasises a feeling of depth. Also the direction of the light source is clearly indicated.
David’s comments on Tone
"Tone is light to dark (value) and is another essential element in painting. If you wish to paint sunlight and atmosphere then you must understand tone, and utilise a range of tonal values in any one painting."
"Contrasting tonal values can be used to draw the eye; the lightest light and darkest dark could perhaps be placed side by side, and remember that your highlights are only as good as your darks."
Everyone takes something different away from a workshop and the main point that struck me were some points David made about colour and depth perception. Even though I had always heard that warm colours come forward and cool colours recede. I don’t think anyone had actually explained why.
Here is a modified version of David’s explanation:
Consider the three primaries, which are red, blue, and yellow. When looking into the distance yellow will disappear first, then red, and then blue. If you picture the Blue Mountains the closer hills are variations of green, and therefore include yellow in the colour mix, the middle distance is mauve, which is a combination of blue and red, and the more distant hills are blue.
Hence I would expect that the brain might interpret blues as being in the far distance and warm colours as being closer to you.
If this is so, then when you would like to represent distance in a painting it would make sense to use warm colours for the foreground and cooler colours in the distance with yellow disappearing from the middle distance and then red disappearing from the farthest distances.
Even though this is a simplistic summary of complex physics and human perception, it is still a useful guide. Of course there are always exceptions to this rule, such as David Lake’s painting Last Light – White Cliffs, where the foreground is in shadow and cooler than the background which is lit by the late afternoon sun.
David also gave a handout with a few words on painting and with his permission I would like to share some of it.
“If you wish to paint an accurate representation of the landscape then you need to study the landscape. Look at shadows, the reflection of light, and observe the sky too as it is the sky that sets the mood of the landscape. By all means use a camera but it is not a substitute for your own eyes.
Whilst you can be taught the basics of composition and colour mixing etc, the development of an individual style, that makes you work recognisable as yours, is something that you acquire through practice and more practice.
Paint the subjects that inspire you – ignore what family and friends think you should paint.”
Thanks David I learnt a lot from your workshop.
Teresa Spedone
Email David to book an upcoming workshop at davidlake71 @ hotmail.com |
