Painting Light by Fred Marsh

2015-05-18T19:35:00.000+10:00

Painting in Provence, France

Lavender Fields near Sault, with Mount Ventoux in the distance

Last year we were fortunate to travel from Sydney and spend a week painting "en plein air" with Julian Merrow-Smith in the Vaucluse area of Provence. Julian is well known for his blog featuring the daily auction of his small paintings "Postcards from Provence" .

In addition to Julian's expert mentoring whilst painting this wonderful landscape, we were accommodated at La Madelene, and what an exceptional experience it was. It is a beautifully renovated 12th century priory near Malaucene.

La Madelene

Our hosts Philip and Jude are exceptional hosts. Click to read more
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Paintings of Coogee - effect of light conditions on the subject

2014-04-18T15:20:00.001+10:00

After all the rain in Sydney it was good to get out in the sun again. Visited Coogee beach on a lovely sunny day and did a small watercolour of the bright light hitting the surf life saving club and hotel.

Coogee, Sydney, Australia
Watercolour, ink & gauche on Strathmore 300gsm
5.5 x 8.5 inches (14 x 21cm)

A few months ago I painted a larger oil showing the view just after the sun went down. The combination of the night light and ocean reflections provided stunning light & atmosphere. Although the two were painted from a different viewpoint, they both feature the surf life saving club on the left and the Grand Pacific private hotel with the Barzooka restaurant to the right of it. (which incidentally is recommended for lunch and dinner)

Coogee Evening
Oil on Canvas
24 x 24 inches (60 x 60cm)

The same subject with two very different light conditions - the uniqueness of a painting is very much about the prevailing light and atmosphere. Any views?

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Nocturnal Painting - Three Amigos at the Domain near Sydney Hospital & Parliament House Sydney

2014-03-06T16:00:00.002+11:00

I am finding the city at night an interesting place to paint. The light effects and shadows create interesting shapes and a sense of mystery which lends themselves to a more abstract quality in the paintings.

This painting came as I was heading home after an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, and my friends were waiting for me to catch up. The light behind them created mysterious atmospheric silhouettes.

Oil on canvas, mounted on board 10 x 12 inches (25 x 30 cm) $400 Click here to contact me Like this Blog? Subscribe and receive new posts by email

Pearl Beach near Sydney, Australia.

2013-10-31T12:57:00.000+11:00

Every so often I participate in an art weekend with a group of friends, discussing painting methods, things that have inspired us, sharing ideas, watching art films, etc., etc. A few weeks ago spent one of those wonderful weekend with friends who live at Pearl Beach, which is just north of Sydney, Australia.

My plein air (painted on site) paintings and sketches from that weekend, are shown below.

Pearl Beach, near Sydney Australia
12 x 10 inches (30 x 25cms)
Oil on board

It was a beautiful clear sunny day & we sat high on the rocks above, to paint this one. Evidently the name of the beach comes from the pearl shapes made by the waves in the wet sand.

The next day we descended to the beach where the light was quite different to yesterday, being quite dark and cloudy during the early morning.

Pearl Beach
A couple of sketches using watercolour pencil on paper

Pearl Beach Headland
A Oil on Canvas
12 x 10 inches (30 x 25cms)

Four of our group will be attending the renowned Julian Merrow Smith's "Postcards from Provence" plein air workshop in the south of France next year, which will be a wonderful experience.

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The Finger Wharves from Sydney Harbour Bridge

2013-04-02T19:00:00.000+11:00

It has taken me about 50 years to discover that one can climb the southern pylon of the Harbour Bridge. What great views it provides.

Here is an oil painting that I did which captures the view looking towards the western side of the harbour bridge, & portraying the finger wharves below. The contrasting warm and cool light effects at this time in the late afternoon were very special.

Fingers Wharves from Sydney Harbour Bridge

10 x 12 inches (25 x 30 cm), Oil on Canvas

The painting has now been sold from my website. To subscribe to my newsletter featuring my new paintings, please click here

The cruise liner "Sea Princess" sails under the bridge as it made its way on another pacifc cruise

A watercolour sketch of circular quay and some photos looking east from the pylon, appear on my sketch blog "the Painted Journey".

Please note that the studio will be closed until early May, whilst I will be away in south america.

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Hawkesbury River, Sydney- Arthur Streeton and I.

2012-11-21T15:32:00.001+11:00

A few weeks ago I travelled to paint the Hawkesbury River near Freemans Reach. The small plein air painting appears below.

Hawkesbury River near Freemans Reach
5 x 4 inches (12.7 x 10cm)
Oil on Canvas.

I didn't realise it at the time but I was only a river bend away from where Arthur Streeton in 1896 painted the iconic "The purple noon’s transparent might". I love the deep (but low chroma) blue that Streeton uses in this painting.

The Purple Noon’s Transparent Might by Arthur Streeton Oil on Canvas
123.0 x 123.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

The site is well marked now as "Streeton Lookout at Freemans Reach" overlooking the spot where Streeton painted the river. When Streeton discovered the Hawkesbury, the river became a subject for a series of large works. Streeton used unorthodox (for the time) shapes for his canvases and used a square one for this "panoramic" painting . He felt that he discovered "the great hidden poetry" of the Australian landscape in the ‘glory of river and plain spread before him.

Katherine Tyrrell has an informative post on Arthur Streeton on her blog "Making a Mark", and built a new website about Streeton with links to information and online images.

Streeton, Tom Roberts, Charles Condor, Frederick McCubbin and the other Australian Impressionists are well known for their plein air painting expeditions and "camps" near Sydney and Melbourne in the mid 1800s. The National Gallery of Victoria has a good overview reference of these sites at this link

I have recently sketched at a couple of the other Sydney sites ( Coogee and Mosman Bay) that they painted at, and they will feature in a couple of future posts.

My other blog "Painted Journey" has paintings and drawings from my second post about the painting trip to Central Australia around Alice Springs.

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First Light MacDonnell Ranges - Finalist St George Art Award

2012-10-16T22:34:00.000+11:00

Continuing on from my previous post about my trip to Central Australia a few of us rose early one morning to catch the sunrise at a hill behind our camp at Ross River.

The light was something very special and as the sun peeped over the Macdonnell Ranges it sent out its first rays illuminating the river into a sparkling sliver of light. So when I arrived back home, it was one of the memories that had to be painted.

24 x 24 inches (61 x 61cm)
Oil on Canvas

The 2012 St George Art Award is a national prize which has the theme of "New Beginnings". My painting capturing the start of a unique new day fitted well with this criteria. Fortunately it has been chosen as a finalist for the prize.

The prize will be announced on Friday 19 October 2012, and the exhibition will commence on Saturday 20 October - Sunday 16 December 2012 at:-
Hurstville Museum and Gallery
14 MacMahon Street
Hurstville (Tues - Sat 10am to 4pm, Sunday 2-5 pm)

I have just released some new paintings, inckuding these shown below.

These paintings and the other new ones can now be seen at my website http://www.marshstudio.com./newpaintings.html

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Reflections at the Edinburgh Castle Corner

2012-04-10T10:51:00.000+10:00

Reflections at the Edinburgh Castle Corner

8 x 8 Inches (20 x 20cm)
Oil on Canvas

I am becoming very interested in painting the light effects seen in cities. Sydney has experienced its greatest volume of summer rain in over 50 years, which has provided some great light effects in the city streets. The corner of Bathurst & Pitt Streets provides the stage for the light hitting the umbrella.

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Simplify - Painting a San Francisco Cityscape

2012-03-08T11:35:00.000+11:00

Terry Miura publishes a blog titled "Studio Notes", in which he generously shares his experiences and knowledge on the craft of painting.

A few weeks ago Terry wrote about the need to simplify, i.e. what should a painter leave in or out of a busy scene. I find that "leaving things out" is one of the hardest things that a painter has to decide when constructing a painting. I know that many of my colleagues have the same difficulty.

Terry's approach involves applying rules which helps keep his mind focused and organised. His rules are outlined in his post, however he went on to invite his readers to paint the same photo and respond how we deal with the same problems. Here is my take.

Original Photo

Stage 1

I like to unify the colours of the painting by painting a base colour. In this case a light burnt orange which will be the complementary colour of the blues of hills and sky. This approach makes it easier to set off cool and warm colours against each other and achieve broken colour in these areas. I then do a simple drawing cropping information out of the original photo

Stage 2

Paint in the basic tones letting the orange come through. The base colour is also used for the sunlight areas of the buildings. I like the light effect when one can transition the walls of buildings from warm at the top to cool at the bottom (or vice versa). I find that I can also desaturate the intensity of the blue when scumbling it over the orange. I then invent a shadow to unify the foreground into one major shape, and making it a rest area for the viewers eye. I use the photograph and try to not copy it.

5 x 4 inches
Oil on Canvas

Stage 3

Adjust the tones and colour to create distance and build contrast in areas to guide the eye through the painting. My natural inclination is to paint hard edges so I need to spend time going back to soften edges, otherwise the eye will be zooming all over the picture.

It has been a valuable exercise and made me think about how to simplify. Some of these practice are intuitive, but some I need to keep before me to build the habit. The "rules' that I discovered are summarised below. Some are the same as Terrys and some different:-

Use a photo (or a scene) rather than copy it.
Underpaint a base colour to complement the planned main colour.
Crop and draw first to solve design problems before committing to paint.
Leave quiet places for the viewer
Vary edges

Interested in this painting? It may be purchased here

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Lavender Bay on New Years Day 2012

2012-02-06T23:21:00.000+11:00

Lavender Bay, Sydney
8 x 8 inches (20 x 20 cm), Oil on canvas
$175 plus $25 shipping and insurance ($18 in Australia)

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On New Years day I had lunch at a friends apartment which has a magnificent view over Lavender Bay and the western side of the Harbour Bridge. I am interested in the different viewpoint that one sees from looking down on the subject. A couple of photos from the same viewpoint appear below

Here are a couple of previous paintings of Lavender Bay (both are sold)

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Vines near Mount Ventoux, Provence, France

2012-01-26T18:12:00.000+11:00

Last year I did some painting in the south of France. This painting was undertaken close to the mas (farmhouse) that we stayed in at Aubignan in the Vaucluse area of Provence. Mount Ventoux is famous for the arduous climbs it presents in the Tour de France.

The area is in the heart of the vine, sunflowers and lavender country. Strawberries and melons have such an intense flavour here.

Vines near Mount Ventoux
Oil on Canvas
5 x 7 inches (12 x 17.5cm)
For Sale $100 plus shipping insurance. ($15 in Australia and $20 outside Australia)

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Three Cherries on a Shelf

2012-01-08T16:12:00.000+11:00

Christmas is cherry time in Sydney.
We had a box of very fresh & tasty cherries, and they looked so nice they just had to be painted.

Three Cherries on a Shelf
Oil on Canvas
5 x 7 inches (12 x 17.5cm)

The models were so tempting that they only lasted seconds after the painting was completed.

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Rain and Reflections, Martin Place, Sydney

2011-11-21T08:21:00.000+11:00

Martin Place from Macquaries Street, Sydney
Oil on Canvas mounted on Board
6 x 6 inches (15 x 15cm)

Love the way that the rain enhances the colours and reflections at night in the city

For Sale $100 plus shipping insurance. ($15 in Australia and $20 outside Australia)

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