Questions answered class three and four

Q: What about restful places for your eye to rest? When Jo was referring to
the boring square in the photo of the lake and boats.

We need to differentiate between a dead area in a painting a rest area. A rest area
which is suitably placed just before the focal area creates a good contrast between
what would be the busy part of a focal area compared to the restful part. Placing a
foursquare inch square where nothing is changing puts a coffin in the painting. A rest
area does not mean there should not be variation of color or value.
Q: If you were doing plein air Johannes would you apply the same principal
of zooming in?

There’s no difference in the concept of cropping in plein air painting or cropping a

photograph. All the same principles apply universally to both. The issue is we are still
limited by four straight lines and whenever we put in inside those straight lines has
to fit comfortably in an interesting fashion, which means the principles of cropping
will apply.

Q: but what if you love the tower? It has personal history for you? How
would you do it - would you severely crop?

You as the artist can paint whatever you want. If you want to paint symmetrical
shapes because it has a personal history for you then consider you are painting for
yourself. For me painting a perfect rectangle such as the building we saw in the
photograph is beating a dead horse. I can somewhat disguise somewhat a straight
lines by adding vines or flowers to that side but not enough to offset an entire
rectangle. Any symmetrical shapes when placed against another area that becomes
the negative shape will increase the problem two fold.

Q: Could you arrange the evergreens in the front to make a lead in?
The idea is to arrange anything that would appear in nature to create a lead in.

Q: If Joe doesn't cover all that he wants in the 12 weeks, will he extend the
classes?
It all depends on you. You the students will make the difference if enough materials
are purchased.

Q: How would you go about making rounded mountains (big hills)

interesting and yet representational of an area's nature?
The whole point of my course is to get us out of the idea that we are to copy things
from nature. The idea is to represent nature using a pictorial language of shapes and
forms, depicted in a poetic way. Just because there’s a round hill in nature does not
mean that we must copy that. Because if I go to another location I can find another
hill or mountain that has a fantastic graceful line as I read it from left to right. If the
top of my hill ends up being the crust of a pizza slice even though I’m representing
what might seem to be real life it will take a huge toll on my painting.

Q: i see this picture has a heavy weight at the right side ,what is your
opinion about the weight at 1 side of a painting?
Pictorial balance is important by distributing the weights of the subjects that appear
in the painting. The rule of thumb is that the darker the object is the heavier it is. It
is not the actual square inches of an element that creates the weight on one side are
another. It is how dark it is that adds weight to the site of a painting. A painting
should not have a 50/50 weight distribution on both sides. Anything that is 50-50
starts to compete.

Q: Why is that so many juried shows accept paintings that do not display
any of these tips you've given?
I don’t know what shows you were talking about. But if you study the top artists all
these principles than I am discussing do apply. Unfortunately because of copyrights I
cannot display examples of this in the web class. What I am teaching is universal. If
I come up with a technique myself I will specify. If I don’t specify it is a universal
concept that all top artists use. An example of this is that when I refer to not
repeating corners, I believe that’s my own concept.

Q: Why do you use Indian red

I prefer Indian red because it is a more natural color. Alizarin crimson and cadmium
red do not appear in nature. However you will see Indian red in rocks. Autumn
foliage is better represented using Indian red plus yellow ochre pale then using
garish hues such as cadmium red and Alizarin crimson. In general I feel that novice
artists overstate the saturation of colors and need to learn to work within the grays.

Q: Does the concept of white things further away being warmer in tone
apply to clouds as well?
Yes, the white fluffy areas of clouds closer to the horizon become warmer, meaning
they take on a yellow orange or even orange hue depending how late it gets in the
afternoon. White is the only color that does not respect the average rules of
atmosphere perspective in which colors become cooler and lighter in the distance.

Q: but can you use acrylics as an underpainting under oils?

According to Winsor and Newton you can do in underpainting with acrylics as long as
the layer is thin. Because a lot of artists struggle with multi layers of paint I would
recommend starting out the block in with acrylics and then follow up with oils on top.
The same would apply to watercolor because it is such a difficult medium you can do
and underpainting with watercolor and then follow up with pastel on top of that. As
far as I’m concerned that’s a suitable way.

Q: Johannes, you reference photo is "uncropped". Are you just cropping it

"in your head", as you paint?
I purposely displayed the uncropped photo so that you could see how I changed it .
The painting I did did show a cropped representation of the photo.

Q: You say you use viridian green, but it's not included in the recommended
palette list
I use an extended palette to save mixing time. The limited palette that I mentioned
was for people that get confused in early stages of their painting. The mistake I see
with many artists is that they place too many colors on their palette thinking it will
help them but the contrary is true. Working with a simple palette gives us fewer
strings to which we can play the guitar, figuratively speaking.

Q: Why not start with the sky?

Many instructors teach clichés that have no practical application and box themselves
and their students into useless rules. Painting the sky in first just for the sake of it
means nothing, unless of course we’re talking about watercolor. I teach my students
to snap masses and shapes into the painting like pieces of a puzzle. The more you
think about a puzzle the better you will design it.
Q:The demo was great! Would you please speak to the various brushes you
use and your technique for paint application> Many thanks...learning so
much!
There are so many professional quality brushes on the market. I prefer to use
brights. I don’t like the flimsy flat brushes. But I don’t particularily buy the most
expensive ones either because I beat them up quite a bit. Many times I paint
pushing the bristles the opposite way which splays them. Regarding paint
application, I really prefer dry brushing to break up the paint to indicate leaves,
grass ,etc. I also do a lot of negative painting to carve out shapes.