From site to studio

Sandra Corpora demonstrates how she created a successful studio oil painting of a lily pond from reference collected on site and shares her top tips for colour mixing

Sandra Corpora demonstrates how she created a successful studio oil painting of a lily pond from reference collected on site and shares her top tips for colour mixing

After hiking up to a lily pond in the Catskill Mountains of New York I found a lovely spot to paint. I set up in the shade with the water’s edge only an arm’s length away. I observed the scene for a few minutes and took several photos with my phone before starting my plein-air oil painting. The light changed so much after one hour that I decided to stop. Otherwise I might have started adjusting colour notes and shadow shapes. Right then I decided to make a studio painting from my colour study and reference photos.

Plein-air painting setup

I keep my outdoor setup as minimal as possible for a short trip or a one painting outing. My current favourite easel is the Strada Mini. I have several sizes of RayMar panel carriers for wet paintings, though 8310in is my go-to size. I take travel-size plastic bottles of Gamsol and a selection of colours in half-full paint tubes to keep the weight down.

To my easel I clip a grey or black plastic bag for rubbish. This may sound strangely specific, but colour and valuebounce back can be distracting. Even wearing a bright- or light-colour shirt can bounce into your work and distort your colour perception. I made a tissue dispenser from a plastic bag with a slit and I clip that bag to my easel. If I work small, I don’t need lots of paper towels so tissues work well. For outdoors I lay out a limited palette; on this day it was titanium white, yellow ochre, Indian yellow, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, as well as a bit of Rublev Oleogel. I pour about a teaspoon or two of Gamsol into a small plastic cup. If my brush really needs paint removed, I wipe it firmly, then dip into the Gamsol, wipe firmly again and the brush is usually clean enough to switch colours – and the Gamsol stays clean. I use the rest of the Gamsol at the end of the painting session to clean up. This way there’s no messy can of solvent.

I often only use one brush, a No. 4 Rosemary Ivory flat, for an 8310in plein-air painting. However, I always take a basic selection of brushes from 0 round, rigger, fan, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6 flats, a palette knife, a bamboo skewer and a small plastic ruler, all rolled up in a handmade lightweight brush roll. But you can use a bamboo mat or a piece of cloth tied with a ribbon or shoestring. Store-bought brush rolls are too heavy and bulky for me. If my car is nearby, I’ll take more of everything, including an umbrella.

Studio process

Back in the studio, I reviewed the reference photos and my plein-air painting. I sketched a few ideas with pencil and pastel pencils to explore possible compositions. I remember how much the foreground lily pads with flowers appealed to me, as did the receding lily pads and the pond’s surrounding vegetation. None of the photos captured that nor did my sketch. I also remember being struck by the lily pads in sunlight and the ones in cool shadow. I decided that my composition would allow the eye to follow the light pattern of the sunlit areas with the lily pads and flowers in the foreground as the centre of interest. This meant I would need to be attentive to the perspective in order to capture the idea convincingly.

I made a 16320in support with Raphael oil-primed linen glued to an Ampersand hardboard panel. I also

glued paper on the back to equalise the warping, which I knew would occur. I like the way my paint handles on this smooth linen surface. My paint is artist-quality oil from makers Michael Harding, Winsor & Newton, Gamblin, Rembrandt, Old Holland and others. I like Gamblin Solvent-free Gel as a medium. Gamsol is used for initial toning and at the end for cleanup. However, for this painting, after the toning step, no solvents were used. Brushes were just wiped firmly and frequently with paper towels throughout the painting process. As often happens, I mixed up my brushes in the middle of painting, so to clean my brush, I dipped it into the solvent-free gel and wiped a couple times to get most of the paint off. Studio safety is an important issue and I always want to minimise the amount of solvent I breathe.

My studio has large, north-facing windows but many days require supplemental light. I use daylight bulbs in large stand lights to boost my light source. I have the reference photos on my tablet so it’s easy to switch between several photos as I paint. For this painting, I didn’t edit the colour of the photographs. I used my plein-air sketch to remind me of the soft colours I saw that day and I had my pastel sketches to remind me of my intentions for the design. There would be room for interpretation in the process of painting.

DEMONSTRATION Lily Pond Morning STAGE ONE

With the No. 12 brush, and a mix of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and a little Gamsol (only enough to get the paint to spread easily without being drippy) I quickly brushed paint on the surface, and spread it with a paper towel so the white was covered. I was going for a neutral mid-value tone that leans warm. I made bold motions with my arm, to loosen up and get the blank canvas covered. Don’t worry about making it perfect; allow for variety and leave sweeping marks for movement. Repeat this process if you’re feeling timid. This step should only take a couple of minutes

STAGE TWO

With the same brush, paint and wiping method, I indicated the main value areas of the composition. The lightest areas, such as the sky, can be revealed by wiping. The darker masses can be established with less wiping. The main compositional areas can lean warm or cool as well. You can move areas of the composition around very easily. Keep the shapes very general but in the right spots. This step also should be done quickly

STAGE THREE

I cleaned my palette and brush and stopped using Gamsol, and washed my hands well (or sometimes I use gloves). I used three brushes to mix three main colours, a dark, light green and blue, and started spottingin areas with enough paint on my brush to leave a solid stroke each time. I paid attention to where the colours were going and making adjustments to them as I started covering the base tones

STAGE FOUR

I wanted to establish the centre of interest and the scale of the foreground. With a bit of Gamsol on a paper towel, I wiped away some paint where the main blooms would be. With a clean No. 4 brush I blocked in the blooms and I made some of the shapes of the foreground lily pads. I was keeping in mind how the shapes transition from the more round ellipses in the foreground to the flatter and smaller-sized ellipses as they recede

STAGE FIVE

I painted in the background, adjusting the colours to become more muted with atmosphere. With full strength paint now on most of the painting, it was time to start restating, adjusting colours and shapes

STAGE SIX

The surface was nearly covered. The pattern and variation of the lily pads in light and shadow have become more apparent

STAGE SEVEN

I gave more variety to the lily pads, making sure I liked their meandering path in the light and suggested additional blooms. I slowed my painting to consider more carefully what still needed to be done. I stepped away more frequently to get perspective

FINISHED PAINTING

Lily Pond Morning, oil on linen, 16320in (40.5351cm).

After further work in the background I deepened some values in the water

Sandra Corpora is a signature member of the Oil Painters of America and American Women Artists. She’s an artist member of the Salmagundi Club in New York and a member of the American Impressionist Society and the Portrait Society of America. She’s had many solo exhibitions and shown in numerous museum exhibitions. She teaches and conducts workshops. Her paintings are in private and public collections worldwide. www.sandracorpora.com

My 8310in plein-air oil painting, made on site

My brushes are primarily Rosemary Ivory flats and Princeton 6100 series flats. For this painting, I used a No. 12 Princeton 6100 bright for the start through to the block-in. Then I used a No. 8 Rosemary Ivory filbert, No. 8 Rosemary Evergreen flat and a No. 6 Princeton Summit 6100 flat for the rest of the painting. I used a Princeton ¾in soft watercolour brush after the block-in to soften everything. My palette knife was used in a few areas. I also like the Grey Matters brush by Jack Richeson, series 9822 synthetic flat. They’re all grey with a nonglare ferrule which is fabulous for sunny-day plein-air painting.

The colours on my palette are titanium white, cadmium yellow lemon, Indian yellow, yellow ochre, Winsor & Newton burnt sienna (I find it’s the same as Rembrandt transparent red oxide), cadmium red light, magenta (I could have used another cool red like permanent rose), ultramarine blue, phthalocyanine blue, ivory black. Mainly it’s a cool/warm primary palette with a few extras for convenience. However I prefer to mix my greens and many beautiful dark mixes are possible, with the transparent primaries (Indian yellow, magenta, ultramarine blue). I used a glass palette backed with grey palette paper; this sits inside a plastic Masterson palette, which has a tightfitting cover.