BEGINNER LEVEL

Landscape paintings before the advent of Romanticism, Classicism, and Impressionism depicted mostly pastoral scenes and were, more often than not, liberally embellished with ruins from an era long past. These settings were the backgrounds for religious themes plucked from the Bible.

The Renaissance of painting flowered first in Italy, and it is there that the painters included the ruins of temples from a period over a thousand years earlier. The temples of ancient Greece were built all over Italy and their crumbling facades became a favorite element to use in contemporary paintings.

The CD contains the following information for viewing and/or printing for each of the projects:

• 77 pages of instructions
• 31 Full-Color images; Color Swatch Reference Guides (displayed in color on user's computer monitor for easy reference; requires a color printer to print in color)
• Line Drawings included for the user to print and enlarge to the painting size of their choice.

PROJECTS INCLUDED:
 
The Gardener's Cottage
SIZE: 12" x 16"
TECHNIQUE: Underpainting Glazes, Overpainting Techniques.
CONTENTS: 16 Pages, 3 Color Images, Color Swatches, Cartoon Line Drawing.
This lovely cottage is found among a carefully preserved group of buildings from the reign of the French monarchy on the grounds of the palace of Versailles, just outside Paris. The village was constructed for Marie Antoinette, who loved to pretend she was part of the French peasantry. She called it "The Hamlet", and often retreated there from the opulence of the palace.
The architecture is authentic since it was constructed during the period it best represents and the lovely state of preservation of the cottages provides a delightful array of vantage points for the artist.
The village was a working one, and remains so to this day, with the cottages providing residence for many groundskeepers. Although the gardens and beds are carefully tended, unlike the sprawling growth indicated in this painting, I took the artistic license of undoing a bit of the formality of French gardens and allowing the plants and foliage to have a bit more freedom.
 
Old World Inn
 
Salisbury Cathedral
SIZE: 12" x 24"
TECHNIQUE: Rainbow color wash, Glazing, Opaque Overpainting.
CONTENTS: 8 Pages, 4 Color Images, Color Swatches, Cartoon Line Drawing.
NOTE: Easy project for beginners.
The cathedral in Salisbury, England, is one of the most beautiful examples of late gothic architecture in the British Isles. Begun in the 13th Century, it was basically finished 200 years later and continues to dominate the surrounding countryside even today. One is seldom out of sight of its 400-ft soaring tower, no matter where you walk in its environs.
I have chosen this subject to demonstrate the use of the colorful tonal wash, which is applied to the canvas before local colors of the composition are added. They affect the final appearance of the painting because small pieces of the tonal wash remain as part of the overall color scheme, even though it seems to have no relationship in the beginning. If different colors were chosen for the tonal wash, the entire effect of the painting would be different, even if no other succeeding colors were changed.
 
Secluded Garden
SIZE: 20" x 24"
TECHNIQUE: Modified Grisaille, Glazing, Opaque Overpainting.
CONTENTS: 14 Pages, 5 Color Images, Color Swatches, Cartoon Line Drawing.
This painting is executed in 3 stages: the grisaille, the transparent underpainting, and the opaque overpainting. Although the grisaille could be omitted and the painting begun directly with the underpainting, the outcome of the final color will be different. The grisaille has a unifying role in relating all the colors in each of the predominant dark areas.
If you choose to omit the grisaille, you must constantly work back and forth among the major dark masses to keep the colors in harmony. The grisaille not only establishes the relationship of the lights and darks, but provides color unity by influencing all the glazes which are applied in the underpainting.
 
The Temple
SIZE: 20" x 24"
TECHNIQUE: Modified Grisaille, Glazing, Opaque Overpainting.
CONTENTS: 32 Pages, 6 Color Images, Color Swatches, Cartoon Line Drawing.