Forelle Pear Oil Painting by Jonathan Aller

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"Forelle Pear"

5 x 7 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I haven't painted pears in a while and thought it was time to re visit these beauties. I also wanted to go back on how I painted pears when I first started to do alla prima paintings a couple years ago. It's minimal amount of paint on the brush kind of like drawing with a pencil, you do not want to put a dark hard line with the initial mark. This painting is an exploration of my technique old and new.

I started with a thin application of raw umber for the drawing stage.  I am not worried about details just the placement of major shapes and the lineation of shadow shapes. Then I painted the background in. I usually like to paint this area first, this allows me to now worry about it when I am painting the main object in the painting.

Once the background was filled in I then painted in the wood, I applied a thin amount of paint to cover the base. I think of it as how one would when drawing with a pencil. I do not paint in the darkest darks or lights lights, just an in between value to give form to the object. Then I paint in the darkest values. I still have not applied any lighter values just concentrating on the middle to darker values.

Once the darks are painted I then start to paint in the middle to lighter values. Once the base is at a level I am satisfied with I move onto the pear. The initial stage of painting the pear I apply a thin layer of paint in the shadows, I do the same with the lights. In this stage I am only concentrating on big form modeling, how light wraps around the form. I mesh the lights into the darks to make the form turn, softening edges to show more of the turn. I am not worried about details at this stage just worried on applying a thin layer of paint and making the form turn with generalized colors.

Once big form modeling is working I then start to work on middle to darker values. As I mentioned before I am applying the paints very thin, this allows me to control values the same way one would control a mark with a pencil. I like to build into my darks as well into the lights.  This approach is time consuming but gives you control on how much subtle values shifts you're needing.

Hope you enjoyed this painting, thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Sheep

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"Sheep"

9 x 12 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I came across this awesome skull with horns. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to paint it. I really like the design within the skull and how the horns wrap out from the skull. Keeping the background white gives it a stronger design. Keeping the values compressed was a challenge especially for a painting done in one session.

I started with a dry brush approach with the drawing stage. I make sure the drawing is complete with the proportion working right, I am not drawing every single detail in just the general shapes. Then I painted in the skull by applying its local colors in a thin manner and also applying big form modeling. At this stage all I am worried about is how the light wraps around the form, no details are put in, I like to keep everything soft with each edge. I also do not put my darkest darks or my lightest lights in this stage, I keep it in the middle value stage for the most part.

Once big form modeling is complete I start painting middle to darker value forms. Still keeping the edges soft where they need to be. I do the same with middle to lighter value forms. These two value forms were not as difficult to paint in because the big form modeling stage was worked out from the beginning. If the big form modeling stage is worked out from the beginning then the smaller forms become easier to paint in (theoretically).

Once the skull was complete I then painted the horns in. For the base I applied a thin coat of raw umber. Then I painted in middle to darker values.

After the middle to darker value forms were painted I then applied middle to lighter value forms. Applying this brought the painting to a finish. I really enjoyed painting something different and at a different angle as well. As mentioned before keeping the values compressed was a challenge, but I learned a lot how to try to get a handle on it. 

Thank you for stopping by, cheers!

Pumpkin & Gourd

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"Pumpkin & Gourd"

4 x 6 in 

Oil on Canvas Panel

I wanted to stay on the theme of gourds and include a pumpkin. I couldn't just leave the gourd by itself, included the pumpkin as a central focus with a dominating presence. The story can go many ways when reading into the painting, its definitely behold of the viewer.

I started with a dry brush approach by just using raw umber and no mediums. In this stage I want to get the drawing as close as I can get it. When I start painting I want to make sure the drawing is as close to it as possible.

Once the drawing is complete I painted in the background and wooden base with its local colors. Once I painted the local colors in I painted the lighter values in the wooden base to give it more form. I want to take the wooden board to a close finish this will allow me to concentrate on the pumpkin and gourd and now worry about coming back and finishing it.

Once the wooden board is complete, I started to lay in local colors on the pumpkin and gourd. I apply a thin coat of paint trying not to go thick, remember fat over lean. In this stage I also paint big form modeling with the local colors. This allows me to concentrate how light wraps around the form. I am not worried about the smaller forms or "details" just how light wraps around the form. I am also keeping the values in a middle tone, not going to light or to dark. I'll apply the dark's and lights in the smaller form stages. I like to spend a lot of time in this stage getting it right, if it works well in this stage then the subsequent stages will go by smoother.

Once the local colors are working with the big form modeling, I then start to paint the darker smaller forms. I start to apply the darkest tones as well in this stage which will make certain sections look brighter.

Once the darker smaller forms are complete I then paint the lighter smaller forms . I repeat the same process as I did with the darker forms by putting in the lightest values. 

Hope you enjoyed this one, thanks for stopping by!

"Gourds" Alla Prima Painting by Jonathan Aller

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"Gourds"

6 x 6 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

My wonderful wife loves decorating around the house according to the seasons. She put these gourds on the dinning table a while ago and of course it caught my interest. This painting was done quicker than normal, it took me 2 and a half hours to complete. 

The first image, top left, is drawn with a dry brush approach just using raw umber. The second image, top right, I filled in the whole painting with local colors of each area. I filled in the gourds with its local colors and started with big form modeling. This is my area of focus which is the reason I went a little further in the initial stage.  The third image, bottom left, I worked with smaller forms after big form modeling was complete. The fourth image, bottom right, I approached painting the wooden board the same way I did with the gourds, first painting in the darks then the lights. 

Thank you for viewing, hope you enjoyed. Cheers!

Plein Air-ing it

"Alexandria"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas

I love long weekends especially at the cabin with family and friends. Sleeping was the number one thing in the agenda and I am happy to say that I succeeded. Second to sleeping was continuing my journey with plein air paintings. As I mentioned in previous post landscapes are not my strong suit, but I do have an admiration for them and enjoy painting them any chance I can. I wanted to try to capture the time of day as fast as I can without having the distraction of putting every hair on a dog.  My goals were to capture the time of day, mood in the painting, and edit my process.

Similar to my previous post, I started with the top left picture with just a quick gesture of the landscape. I only want to capture the essence of the scene and its perspective. The top right picture shows my next step, this stage I only ad the overall tones for each section of the painting. This stage I like to call the "rough" in stage, still going quick to capture the type of light I want, similar to doing gestures but with color. This stage allows me to see how the overall color and mood that will be in the final painting. I want to try to keep close to this palette the further I move away from this stage and closer to the final. The bottom left picture I start to zero in on a section and take it to a finish. I first start with the darker values and move to the lighter values. In this stage I am taking the tree's in the foreground and the tree's in the background to a close finish. Then on the bottom right picture I complete the lake and sky, repeating the same process in working from dark to lighter values.  When all the shapes and values are stated in the painting and close to a finish I can then go around and put the finishing touches. 

Painting on location.

Here is another painting I did when the sun was starting to set the previous day. This was a really quick painting as the clouds were going in and out. The size of this painting is 5 x7 inches, being restricted to that size allows you to go much quicker.

Thank you again for stopping by and viewing. I hope you enjoyed this post and the paintings. Till next time, cheers!

"Pink Peonies" by Jonathan Aller

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"Pink Peonies"

12 x 9 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Happy New Years everyone! I have so much to be thankful for such a wonderful year, excited to see what the future has in store. Can't think of any other way to ring it in other than painting.  I have been wanting to paint for a while and finally after all the holiday festivities I was able to do so. Peonies have always been a personal favorite of mine to paint, their color and texture are a big draw to me. It's a subject in which if you try painting every single hair on a dog it will not work in your favor. Either way it's a challenging subject matter to paint, but always a pleasure to do.

I start with a very thin layer of raw umber, not using any mediums either. I do not use any mediums through out the duration of the painting, I like to keep the toxins level as low as possible. This stage I like to concentrate mainly on the composition and placement of shapes. I am not concerned with details or getting everything perfect, just getting the overall placements in the right areas. Later on through the painting the shapes shift here and there that's why I like to keep this stage fairly loose. You can think of it as a gesture drawing, not concerned with proportions or details, just the sole of the drawing, the movement of life through out the drawing. 

Once the drawing is complete I then start with the peonies and its stems. This is the big form modeling stage. I am only concerned with getting the overall chroma and the turning of the form correct. Still not worried about details, just turning the form with the lights and correct chroma.

Once the big form molding stage is complete I then start with smaller form modeling. In order for this stage to work the big form modeling needs to be correct. I have found with a lot of my students they like to rush through this step. The importance of getting that stage right is overlooked at more often than not. Smaller form modeling is just a miniature version of big form modeling. 

I am still not completely done with smaller form modeling since the background and leaves are not done. I lay in the background and really like how it pushes the peonies forward.

I keep going back and forth with the small form modeling stages through out the peonies and leaves. The painting is finally complete and really satisfied with it. These peonies get me excited for the summer after these sub zero temperatures we are experiencing. 

Thank you for stopping by and viewing, wishing everyone a Happy New Years! 

"Fruit Tart" by Jonathan Aller

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"Fruit Tart"

6 x 6 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Hi everyone first I wanted to let you guys know I'll be giving a demo on Wednesday, April 27 at Blick art material store in Edina.  If you'r around the area you should drop by I will be there from 1-4, this is for the 100th anniversary of being open.  There'll be live music and also great food, I might be to distracted to paint with all the food. 

This is another attempt to paint these delicious treats, I had to do this one because of the kiwi's and strawberries mixed into the usual group.  The colors and textures made it so much fun to try to paint, its always great to push yourself and achieve textures you'r not familiar painting.  There's also a lot of subtle value shifts in the body of the fruit tart, its great practicing these techniques it sharpens your skills in many ways.  Needless to say I enjoyed every bite when completing the painting, it's always a great incentive to finish.

You can see the making of this painting on my blog:

http://www.jonaller.blogspot.com