We called one of our Golden Members of Art Center Information, artist Lynn Burton, and asked him a questions that we have been hearing from some of our students. As you may know, Lynn is the brother of our founder and CEO, Richard D. Burton. Here is the often asked question.
Question: When painting trees and bushes, should you paint the sky first and render the leaves over it, or should you paint in the tree or bush shape and paint the sky seen between the leaves and branches?
Answer: This is a good question. Remember this, these spaces between the leaves and branches where the sky shows through do not always show an uninterrupted view of the sky. There are small forms within these spaces that may not be apparent with the naked eye (such as small branches and leaves), and they affect the surrounding hues by interfering with the light passing through. It actually lowers the value. The smaller holes should be painted a bit darker than the color of the sky. A suggestion would be to design your foliage in a way that may not be what you are seeing but in a way that makes your landscape more interesting. For example, I like to plan these holes to be various sizes and spread them around in a “zig-zaggy” fashion. I also try to use them somewhat sparingly.
If you keep what I’ve said in mind, you have to understand that painting the sky seen through these spaces requires planning. Therefore, that perfect sky beyond the foliage that we observe will not appear perfect without painting the interference of light. So, I recommend that you paint these skyholes in as you are painting the tree or foliage. However, if you elect to paint the sky first, use your sky as an under-painting in these areas.
I would feel derelict in my duties if I didn’t mention one other thing when painting trees. It is very important to recognize the effect color and light have on the overall silhouette caused by trees against the sky. Really good landscape artists are aware of transparency and the effect that light has around the edge of the overall shape of the trees. They find a way to express this in their paintings. Keep in mind, there are many colors in foliage. This is because of nature itself and the effect that light has on hues.
What you really don’t want to do is paint every leaf of the thousands of leaves on a tree unless it is the object of your art and done purposefully. In doing so, you will completely miss the best part – the sense of softness and interpenetration with the foliage and the sky.
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