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The goal of this alla prima interior is to capture the qualities of composition, depth, colour and creative adjustments that will enhance the outcome of the image. By AL GURY
The painting of interiors has been a perennial topic for painters since Roman times. Seventeenth-century Dutch interiors created a vogue for views through rooms organised around the structure of both geometric and aerial perspective. The subtlety of colour changes in the fall of light in a room became a favorite subject for the French Impressionists. The modern world saw the interior growing as a subject for artists exploring flat patterns, and the interaction of colour shapes.
For the student of art, as well as for the practising painter, small alla prima studies of the interior and its potential for capturing light, depth and expression continues to be a challenging and creative subject. It is an excellent way to improve the use of composition, colour, tonality and depth.
This painting presents a direct and useful way to approach the subject of the interior.
Doing the painting in a step-by-step set of layers, from general to particular and thinner to thicker paint, will maximise the outcome and the painter’s confidence with the subject.
The photograph of the interior provides the basic compositional elements. Photos rarely provide nuances of colour in the environment but can provide a template for the artist to make educated and creative choices about colour, value, composition and depth.
These aesthetic edits and additions should be thought through and planned before starting . The basically white and brown interior will benefit from variations in the tints and values of the white walls from warmer to cooler. The dark wood trim will also have slight variations from reddish to purple. Also, the illusions of aerial perspective via edge and brush stroke differences need to be thought through beforehand. All of this planning would be true even if the painting was done on site from observation. The goal? To create the feeling of the space rather than just copy it. algury.com