Saturday, March 13, 2010

Distance

Thomas Jacques Somerscales - British 1842-1927, Sail and Steam in Majesty, 84 x 145 cm


detail

The sailing ship is more distant than the steamer, and is therefore painted in less saturated tones and with less detail. The waves nearest to the horizon are also hazier. Adding too much detail to distant objects will bring them forward and look wrong. We can see rigging ropes on the ship but they are only very subtly suggested, perhaps lightly scratched into the paint with a sharp point.
at

1 comment:

  1. BruceFebruary 16, 2011 at 12:50 AM

    Geoff Hunt is a master at this type of work. A careful look at a painting with up to five or more ships in a receding line shows a gradual difference in saturation and detail to each ship! I am lucky to be able to deal with the proper recession showing two. I did a painting recently of a single ship and it simply didn't look right until some weeks later I went back and added a second slightly 'purple/grey' in the distance to push the other forward a bit. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete