Richard Robinson, Rangiputa, acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15" (38 x 38 cm)

Some paintings seem to glow with an inner warmth. How do they do that? Turns out it’s not rocket science. All you need to do is remove all cool colors from your palette and use a gray instead of blue. Swedish portrait painter Anders Zorn (1860-1920) is known to have used just such a reduced palette to achieve his warm paintings. These colors are vermilion, ivory black, flake white and yellow ochre. Today you could use titanium white and cadmium red instead.

Rangiputa Beach in New Zealand.

 

Rangiputa Beach in New Zealand.

Student critiques

Vibrant beach sunset, acrylic on canvas, 151/3 x 151/3" (39 x 39 cm)

Elena Sokolova

That’s beautiful work Elena. I love that you have pushed the colors, adding more purple to the shadows, which looks really vibrant against the warm grasses and yellow glow in the sky. Congratulations!

A walk to the beach, oil 

Elmari van Zyl

Lovely work, Elmari. The whole painting looks very organic and wind-swept, with a casual charm. I would just like to see a smoother transition from warm to cool in the sky. The rest of the painting is great.

Tranquil beach sunset

Ian States

Great color and brushwork and this one, Ian. Nice job.

“Rangiputa” Study of Richard Robinson’s painting

Joanna Balaski

Hi Joanna, there’s a lot going well in this painting including the drawing, the placement of the major shapes and the interesting variety of brushwork from large washy areas to small impasto highlights and fine details. Nicely done. It’s just a shame you were a little heavy-handed with the black or very dark gray that you are using. It has overpowered most of the shadow colors and the lower third of the painting. Compare the dark areas in your painting with those in mine, and you will see that the darkest dark, close to black, was used rather sparingly on mine. When you have too much darkness in a landscape painting like this it seems to suck the color out of it. Also, when the warms and dark cool grays in the foreground sand are smooshed together you get a muddy gray that seems out of place, rather than a selection of slightly different grays painted in a patchwork fashion that sit nicely side by side. It’s easy to get lost when gray colors are so similar side by side, which is when you need to take a harder look at your resource image or scene in front of you and figure out those subtle differences. I ask myself two questions in this order: Is it lighter or darker? Is it warmer or cooler?

oil on canvas, 12 x 12" (30 x 30 cm)

Darla Calhoon-Rice

Beautifully painted, Darla. I love the subtle variations you have throughout the color blocks, the softness of the whole painting, the subtlety of the color in the sky and your thoughtful brushwork. Great job!

Walk to Beach, oil with palette knife

Geoffrey Geeson

Hey Geoffrey, that’s really interesting to see it done in a chunkier style—really adds a lot of life to it. Beautiful! I would just like to see the trees drawn a little more carefully and some of the muddiness in the sky cleared up.

A Walk to the Beach, oil on canvas, 14 x 14" (35 x 35 cm)

Nancy Newton

Beautiful work there Nancy! I love the softness that the oils have given this painting compared to the sharper roughness given by my acrylics. It’s also interesting to see the more dynamic contrast you have given it with lighter cooler sand and darker darks. That’s lost a little of the warmth in the sand, but the contrast between the cool sand and the warm grasses is really eye-catching. That’s all good in the foreground, but in the ocean and clouds I would recommend you add more warmth so that these background elements can stay in the background a little better.

A walk to the beach, acrylic on canvas

Deborah Calow

Great work, Deborah. You’ve done a particularly good job of the glow of the sun in the sky, and overall the colors are very good. Your brushwork is varied and interesting. My only suggestion would be to always be careful to make your horizon level and straight.

A Walk to the Beach, oil on wood panel, 12 x 12" (30 x 30 cm)

Louise Villegas

Hi Louise, nice job here. Really vibrant colors and a pervading softness to the whole painting. My only concern is the light gray clouds behind the trees; this color seems out of place because it is too cool compared to its neighbors. Better to make that a warmer gray.