Methods and Systems

In "Side Street in Rome" I approached the painting with a design that conveyed a sense of light and shadow. The sense of contrast is kept fairly subtle, the painting stays predominately in a middle value range. I massed in the large pattern first to establish the design and to remind myself to stay within a set value range for the lights and another for the areas of the image that were in shadow and indirect light.
I tend to mix on my palette with value in mind. The middle of my palette will have the puddles of color that are in the mid value range, the darks are mixed to the left and the lights to the right. The value puddles mimic the arrangement of colors on my palette. My palette is arranged from warm to cool from right to left and my white is on the right hand side, I'm right handed and the placement of white on the right makes sense to me. After years of working this way it has become second nature.
To get my point across when teaching students about value I compare light and shadow to Mafia families, the lights are the Colombos and the shadows are the Gambinos, if everybody stays where they belong in the picture nobody has to get rubbed out. So if you are painting an area in your image that is part of the shadow, not being lit directly, you load your brush from the middle and dark puddles on your palette.
I don't premix a range of values and colors, I can see it is a helpful method and it does help yield consistent results and the consistency is part of what I don't like about paintings of the premixed palette approach. There tend to be the same color and value choices regardless of the image being depicted and often times the darks never seem rich enough.
There is also a tendency to use the premixed color because the value corresponds to what is seen even if the color doesn't. There is a lot to be learned from various methods and systems and control is a great asset, until it controls an artist's willingness to take chances and respond to what a particular painting calls for. Method and system driven art tend to be safe choices offering few surprises along the way, there's a bit of a guaranteed look. There are key principles in approaching a painting or drawing, training and developing a reliable set of skills and working knowledge is crucial, just don't let the technical aspect of creating hamper your range of choices.
A work of art is the trace of a magnificent struggle. (Robert Henri)

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park

 The painting I have posted is a studio piece from a few years ago and the original was sold shortly after it was completed. The placement of the vending cart on the left anchors the composition on that side of the design. The diagonal lines on the terrace offer a lead in to the pictorial space and the grouping of figures on the right directs your gaze back towards the center of the composition and the angel of the waters sculpture. 

It's basically a design scheme built upon a triangle.

Bethesda Fountain is one of the many gems of Central Park. The tile ceiling of the terrace arcade is made up of almost 16 thousand tiles and was fully restored and reopened 4 years ago. During a recent painting trip that was part of a plein air painting event I painted a view of the fountain from underneath the terrace. Fellow artists Garin Baker and Ken Dewaard were painting there as well, you can see their paintings by clicking the links below.

http://kendewaard.blogspot.com/

http://www.jcas.org/

While painting we were treated to an incredible mini concert featuring interpretations of classical music with flawless four part harmony and a bass cello. The park has designated the area a quite zone and is trying to crack down on the public performances, that would be a shame. 

Flattening Spatial Depth

There are times when I intentionally like to flatten spatial depth in my paintings. Some subjects present themselves to me as a very strong graphic design and suppressing the atmospheric perspective, (the lessoning of contrast and cooling of form as they recede in space), accentuates the graphic quality of the composition.
In "Under the Boardwalk, Coney Island" the darks of the area underneath the boardwalk are repeated in the handling of the roller-coaster, as a result the spacial depth is diminished and the elements in the composition read as a unit silhouetted by the sky.

Emerging from the Page

I came across this drawing while straightening out my flat files. It is a life drawing from the class I teach at DuCret School of Art in Plainfield NJ.
I leave alot of drawings at this stage out of necessity, I usually only sneak in a little work on my own drawing for one sitting (15-20minutes), the rest of the time I work the room and instruct one on one.
I like the drawings at this stage because there is evidence of the process, the drawings tend to be a bit more caligraphic early on and have a feeling of being part of the page in some areas and emerging from it in other areas.

Rhythm In Composition

Coney Island has been a favorite subject of mine. There are a number of reasons, I have an attachment to the place having spent many summer days at the beach and from a visual context I really like the compositional elements it holds.

In "Big Bad Beach Umbrella" I enjoyed creating a visual rhythm, the rollercoaster offered and opportunity to lead the eye to the figurative elements in the painting at key intervals while also playing the vertical supports of the structure against the verticals of the boardwalk railing and concrete boardwalk supports.

I also liked confining the strong color notes within the narrow band of the elements on the boardwalk. With the exception of the cadmium green of the beach umbrella I repeated the other colors of the umbrella in key places in the pictorial space.

This painting measures 12" X 16" and is available for purchase through my studio, Casale Fine Art. Price on Request. Visit www.casalefineart.com for contact info

The Arts of David Levine