Vero Bach Art Club Presents a John Traynor Plein Air Workshop

John Traynor Plein Air

                         What a wonderful but tiring two days it has been! 
Nationally known oil painter John Traynor came to Vero Beach to attend a reception at the Stringer Gallery of Fine Art where his work is being exhibited.  Mr. Stringer recommended John Traynor as an instructor for one of the Art Club workshops; an invitation we warmly accepted. 

The first day we met at a county park to paint. John did a lengthy informative demonstration of an ordinary scene. All I saw was green, green and more green but Traynor turned it into a work of art.

The day started out cloudy and slowly the sun came out as he was painting and so the final product changed right before our eyes. I now do not fear the vast green of painting plein air.

There was so much to learn that I'm having trouble retaining it all. I did take notes so I will try to summarize his demonstration/lecture.

*There are two progressions in a painting; side to side and front to back.
*He paints all over the picture so he doesn't finish one section before another.
*He primed the canvas in a gray violet which depicts the moisture in the atmosphere.
*Warm & dark in the foreground.
*Adding white (opaque) will cause object to recede.
*Put a piece of cardboard on the back of your canvas to prevent back lighting on your canvas.
* Temperature changes are linked with value changes. Temperature is a road map to perspective of a landscape scene. Each ground zone has a particular color/temperature.
*Morning has pink at the horizon.
*Mass shadows and shapes  in a darker neutral tone to begin.
*Warm atmosphere light yields cool shadows, cool light yields warm shadows.
* Shadows are darkest just under the tree and lightens as it goes away from the object.
*Morning and evening has warm atmospheric light, mid day has cool light
*Treat each tree or object as a separate element with a fore, mid and background and change the temperature of the color accordingly.
*Each of the three sections of the painting have a specific color temperature mixture.
*Soft edges recede, sharp edges come forward
*A busy sky should have a simple landscape and visa versa
*Traynor did color test samples to see if a color in his painting were correct. I still have to get my brain around this one.
*Yellow ochre is a mid tone color
* Transmitted light is light filtering through leaves so it is lighter and warmer in color.
* Use a violet for tree branches.

Next week I will write about day two of the workshop so please stay tuned.


koserme@gmail.com
Web site: www.verobeachartclub.org     (Artist Gallery)