Mitchell Albala reading from his book: "Landscape Painting" at DANIEL SMITH Art Supply in Seattle
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For this demo, Mitchell used a B&W photo, “Working from a B&W photo has less detraction at this stage rather than working from the color photograph”. The photo was of a house in a landscape, and Mitchell used it to demonstrate a 4 value study (with acrylic, best for quick black and white value studies) which is his exercise #2 outlined on page 64 of his book.Â
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To begin the demo, Mitchell read a few sentences on “simplification and massing” which he discusses further on pages 57 & 58. Mitchell told us, “when you are looking at a landscape, it’s very overwhelming all the leaves, grass etc., and doing this value exercise makes you think about the values and basic shapes.” Simplification and massing are very important for landscape painting as it is with still life and figure, but even more important since there is so much detail and things competing for visual attention. This B&W exercise is very helpful in determining the important compositional elements, although Mitchell likes the word “design” better than composition because it denotes more thought and decision making by the Artist.
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Mitchell Albala painting demo at DANIEL SMITH
When working Mitchell looks at the whole canvas and paints “holistically” not just from the upper left and working down, he is “trying to build the over all pattern and shape”. He is not painting the perfect house, but rather working over the entire canvas/paper. “The goal is to place shapes I can modify later”. By simplifying the shapes, you actually improve the focus of the painting. Watching Mitchell paint is like watching someone draw with the paint, rather than painting, much more dynamic. In the photo, MItchell pointed out that the road and sky are the same value (for this exercise he assigned a #2 value) so he told us he had to make a decision, he decided to keep the road a #2 value and blow the sky out to white. Â
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Once Mitchell has the 4 values down he started to work on what he calls his “first pass”. Mitchell began to add value corrections which begin to pull out some details from the basic shapes he painted. He told us to use a big brush, because it helps to keep your shapes simple. Exercises like these are like “training” for the marathon (plein air painting) so that you are ready to paint outdoors. One of the tips Mitchell shared was; “Few landscapes do not benefit by having a telephone pole.” Telephone poles are great in landscapes, they add a strong vertical element and several leading off into the distance can add depth to the painting as they draw the eye in.
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Mitchell Albala discussing his 4 value painting at the demo and answering questions
Later Mitchell asked where should he, “put the clouds [from the photo] in the painting?” In his book, Mitchell talks about how clouds can add a lot of dimension, and using the clouds in proportion and scale to force distance – always with conscious decision to add to the design.
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Mitchell had a 40 minuet Question & Answer period to answer questions about what he did during the demo and on painting in general. A few items I noted were: “Remember that detail must always remain subordinate to the overall value of the painting.” “Your job as an Artist is to select what is important to the painting and what to leave out.” Mitchell also told us that he prefers to use the
Fredrix Canvas because he likes the absorbency of the surface and it is ready to use. Mitchell has an entire chapter in his book on choosing a subject, just because you like the subject doesn’t mean it is good for painting, “select your subjects in the right way so it’s not a flat painting.” Mitchell also uses his computer as a tool to assist with painting , Photoshop is a good tool for “shape builders”.
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Mitchell Albala signing copies of his book: "Landscape Painting" after the DANIEL SMITH demo
After the demo many of us lined up to have Mitchell sign our copies of his new book: Landscape Painting - got my copy signed! I have found it to be an excellent book (what I have had time to read!) and look forward to following along with his exercises when I have some time to paint again.
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It was an excellent demonstration, Thank you Mitchell!
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