PALETTE BOX - a cover helps delay the drying of water soluable
         oils between uses.   Palette boxes are available with a glass mixing
         surface and a thin sponge to go underneath the glass.   Lightly
         spraying the sponge with water just before covering delays paint
         drying.   However, too much water and the paint will absorb it and
         become runny.   This may also allow mold to grow.

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PAINTING: Colors - What colors should I use?   This is a
question that most beginning painters have asked and that
some are still wrestling with.   Many artists have developed
strong feelings about what is an appropriate choice of colors
to use for their paintings.   Some change their palettes to match
what they feel is necessary for the different places in the world
where they paint.   Four different sets of colors used by well
established teaching artists can be viewed below as well as
the colors Jim uses).   To Jim, the interesting thing about
this is that these artists have all used their palettes to make
paintings in the same area of Wyoming and their paintings
successfully reflect that locale.   So it would seem that there
is more than one "right" answer to the question.

You can see the palettes either as a concise spreadsheet
(click here) or in a longer scrolling list (click here) - both open in separate windows so the color and brand comments here may be viewed at the same time.

There are no tube greens in Jim's standard palette; greens are mixed from the other colors.   He has found that a combination of Phthalo Blue (RS) and Lemon Yellow make a good Viridian substitute.

* One green does appear in his Limited Use palette.   Phthalo green along with phthalo blue and alizarin crimson can make interesting, very deep blacks.   Where an especially vibrant black is needed over a large area, mix three batches of the three colors, with a different color slightly predominating in each batch.   Randomly apply the batches to the area to be covered.   Note: phthalo green and phthalo blue are extreme stainers (especially the latter).

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THE PROCESS: - Painting design decisions.   The design of a painting involves a lot of thought before the brush ever hits the canvas.   Design decisions also continue up until the last brush stroke.   Jim has outlined his thoughts on designing some of his paintings and these can be accessed from the thumbnails below (also available from the Artwork pages as "About" buttons).  

Under the first example (Ex. 1) the overall design of the painting is discussed.   An alternative layout is also identified, but not used.   Some time after this painting was finished, Jim decided to test out that alternative and the validity of it is discussed under the second example.  

         Ex. 1     Ex. 2
   Ex. 3     Ex. 4
                                  Paintings © Jim Mossman

The third documents the decision process both before and during the actual painting work.   Some of the latter decisions were intuitive while others required study and thought before being made.   The small things were especially important to the success of this painting.   The fourth example shows why it can be important to have reference photos from areas beyond the identified painting subject area.  

                       Ex. 5  
                                  Painting © Jim Mossman

The fifth example shows how decisions made in improving
one part of a painting can lead to a cascade of changes in the
remaining portions of the painting.

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PHOTOGRAPHY AND PAINTING - Reference photos are a critical element of studio landscape painting incorporating the level of detail Jim favors.   These save a lot of time that would otherwise be devoted to making numerous field sketches and studies.

MIGRATING TO DIGITAL CAMERAS: Jim's photography
experience started with large format cameras (3-1/4 x 4-1/4
Graflex and 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 Speed Graphic) using black and
white film.   He served as the photographer for all 46 issues
of the short-lived Montpelier Daily Post (a Vermont news-
paper).   Then for many years he shot Canon 35mm SLR
cameras using slide and print film, building a large collection
of scenic photos.   In 2004 the decline in film availability led
to a shift to digital SLRs.   This provided an opportunity to
move to much-improved modern zoom lenses and to switch
to Nikon cameras.

REFERENCE PHOTOS:   For working in this studio, 8-1/2
by 11 has turned out to be the most useful standard size for
reference photos.   Smaller sizes (4 x 6) don't show detail
well enough and larger sizes (13 x 19) tend to get in the way
when painting.

               

WIDE ANGLE SHOTS:   When taking photos just for prints
or slides, one tries to frame the most ideal scene in the view-
finder.   However, for use as reference photos in painting, it
is important to also take wider angle views.   The lack of
these in Jim's older slides and prints showed up when using
those to design paintings on canvases with an aspect ratio
(height to width ratio) differing from that of the photograph.  
Often when laying out the painting it was realized that just a
little more of the scene at the top, bottom or a side could
lead to a better painting design.

DETAIL SHOTS:   Taking detail shots of complicated areas within the chosen scene(s) is a good idea.   Also consider capturing images of interesting items outside the scene that
it may be desirable to "move" into it (trees, shrubs, rocks, animals etc.).   Ideally, one would identify and take all these detail shots while on the scene initially.   However, very often back in the studio it is realized that additional detail would be useful.   Enlarging a small portion of a reference photo may provide that detail.   For digital cameras this brings up the matter of megapixels.

MEGAPIXEL MATTERS:   A megapixel represents an area.  
Say a scene is shot with a 6 megapixel digital camera.   If the digital image is enlarged to the limit of its useful size and it would be desirable to be able to further enlarge a 2 inch by 2 inch section of it (4 square inches) to be twice that size (4 by
4 inches or 16 square inches), all else being equal then one would need a 24 megapixel digital camera (four times the capability of the 6 megapixel camera).

Jim started with a 6 MP (megapixel) Nikon D100 digital camera.
This provided sufficient definition for 8-1/2 by 11 prints.   How- ever, too often this was not enough for enlarging small sections of an image.   Switching to a 10 MP Nikon D200 has helped some with this problem.   This allows for about a 30% greater enlargement (24 mp would allow a 100% greater enlargement). However, there are factors that may hinder quality implemen- tations of high megapixel cameras.   Sensors covering larger areas begin to use light travelling through the outer edges of currently produced lenses with an attendant fall off in quality. Denser sensors (with more pixels per area) have their own design limitations.   For details about this and informative reviews of Nikon cameras and lenses, Jim recommends looking at Thom Hogan's web site.

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