Thoughts on Creating Atmosphere

I will be presenting tomorrow for the North Syracuse Art Guild, so while I was putting these thoughts together, I figured I might as well add this to my blog!

CREATING ATMOSPHERE IN YOUR PAINTINGS

There are two ways to think about creating atmosphere in your paintings. One is actual atmospheric conditions like fog, rain, early morning light, or sunset and the other way is to create a sense of place. Creating a sense of place tells us a story about the painting—like where it is or what time of day. And often that other type of “atmosphere” helps to embellish the story.

Know Your Subject 

In creating atmosphere or a sense of place in your artwork it really helps to know the place. I have always felt that I cannot paint a scene until it has gotten under my skin. I’ve been very fortunate to have traveled to many scenic places, but it is the paintings of places that I know and love that turn out to be the most successful. And most often these paintings are less about defining an actual scene and more about creating an atmosphere or mood. It’s about understanding that kind of hot, hazy day when the land and water are all blurry edges and color is soaked with sunlight, nearly to the point of disappearing. Or an overcast day when the water and sky are silvery gray shapes seamlessly merging together.

Over the last few years I’ve concentrated most of my landscape painting to the St. Lawrence River and surrounding North Country. My husband and I spend a lot of time at our place on Grass Lake in the Indian River Lakes Region, which is very close to the Thousand Islands. The landscape there, especially around the lake, has been a source of constant inspiration. The St. Lawrence River is also an area that I have grown to love. There are many painters on the River and one of the challenges I have had is in defining a style to set myself apart from the rest of the painters. The castles, lighthouses, iconic bridge and islands are painted over and over again.

Searching for a Style 

In searching for a style I realized that painting atmosphere, or a sense of place appealed to me so much more than painting Boldt Castle as an illustration.

And so most of my paintings deal with misty mornings, landforms and architecture partially obscured by fog, and impending storms (summer and winter).

I use color and light to set a mood, and don’t really concern myself with sticking to the colors in my reference photo or sketch. Color used expressively is in my opinion so much more exciting than local color. Shadows in deep blues, purples or reds add life to a painting. Skies can have so many more colors than just blue or gray. Bits of pink and yellow, even green can add so much depth to the sky

Leaving out distracting details is the hardest thing for me. I have a tendency to paint too much detail. In creating that sense of atmosphere it’s what we leave out rather than what we put in which engages the viewer. It’s the suggestion rather than articulation of each object that we strive for. In the acrylic painting below, I have painted just enough detail to identify the location and added a wet pavement and dramatic sky to finish “telling the story”.

In summary I would say that creating atmosphere or a sense of place in your work comes from knowing and understanding your subject, using color and light to convey mood and suggesting rather than fully illustrating the subject.

Joan Applebaum, Windy Hill Studio

www.windyhillstudioarts.com    joanapplebaumart@blogspot.com

Find me on Facebook Joan Applebaum’s Windy Hill Studio

I teach classes at the Thousand Islands Arts Center and the Sackets Harbor Arts Center in the Summer, and The Eye Studio in East Syracuse in the Fall and Winter.

Summer Paintings

"Grass Lake"

June and July in Review

As we are slightly past the midway point for Summer I thought I would take some time to look over a few of the paintings I had created in the past few weeks.

The unique thing about this group of paintings is that they were each begun as a demo piece either for a class that I was teaching, or a demonstration of painting in a public setting.

Back in early June I was visiting friends who were staying on Blind Bay along the St. Lawrence River. On the day I was visiting the weather was less than perfect, intermittent rain fell for a good part of the afternoon. Not too great for kayaking, but I could see a painting coming to life. The soft rain and heavy skies created this dreamy setting, tucked away from the River in a world of its own. I took a few reference photos and a few days later while I was working at Bay House Artisans in Alexandria Bay I began the painting. As customers came into the store they would stop, watch my progress and make comments (mostly favorable!). I finished the painting later in my studio at camp.

"Rainy Day, Blind Bay"

"Rising" was painted during Arts on Genesee, an outdoor Fine Art and Craft show. I blogged about painting that piece a few weeks ago.
http://joanapplebaumart.blogspot.com/2017/07/rising-watercolor-this-is-new-image.html

"Rising"

In July I taught three 2-day workshops at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton. The first workshop, Foliage & Flowers left me with the beginnings of a really nice floral watercolor. I haven't finished it yet--it's next on my list. I also taught a class titled Creating Atmosphere in Your Watercolors. The small painting below "Sentry"came out of that class. We were working with heavy overcast skies and misty effects. I had really just meant to paint a sky but somehow a dreamy landform and a heron emerged from a puddle of Payne's Gray, Yellow Ocher and Cerulean Blue. The stark simplicity of the painting really appeals to me.

"Sentry"

"Grass Lake"

At the end of July I taught an Acrylic Painting class, concentrating on landscape. "Grass Lake" was under-painted on Monday, painted on Tuesday in class as a demonstration, finished that night in my studio at camp and sold on Wednesday. How's that for fast work???


Our first painting in the acrylic landscape class dealt with daytime light. Our second painting, done from our imaginations was a sunset painting. Skies and water come alive with color as the land becomes a silhouette.

"North Country Sunset"

So it seems that one of the perks of teaching and demonstrating is the opportunity to create a painting --maybe. Some of the pieces that I began as a demo for class turned out well. Others are opportunities for later. I have a couple of beach scenes and the afore mentioned floral painting to return to and perhaps a painting will emerge. Or perhaps these demos will become "studies" for a larger, more developed painting. And some demos just don't make it as paintings at all. All part of the learning process.

This coming week I will be detouring into "Painting on Silk", which is very much like watercolor. We'll see where the demos lead.

Just Can't Leave the Water!

In my recent artist talk at Tyler Art Gallery @ Oswego State Downtown I mentioned how living near the water has influenced my paintings. That influence comes through in my other work as well. The colors, the images all make their way into the more abstracted pieces I do in silk and in glass.

The wall hanging on silk has our iconic little island against a tie-dye background bordered by blue fabric. Ornamental buttons made from polymer clay in shades of blue, green and white anchor the corners with shimmering beads (sunlight on the water???) coming from their centers. 

The 2 glass plates are part of my "Land Between the Water" series. I can identify with those each summer as I go between home, Grass Lake and The River. 

So even here at home with the snow swirling around outside, I am back at the lake.