Paint a series of four (4) landscape studies of the view from your dorm room or apartment window. Each study should be 5” x 7”.
By paying particular attention to the landscape under different lighting situations, different times of day, and changing weather conditions we can learn to express the qualities of those conditions and show that color is a condition of light. The differences in lighting will result in distinct color schemes of your scene.
To make the initial painting come more easily, use adhesive tape to mask out a viewfinder on a windowpane in proportion to your 5” x 7” format. The viewfinder will frame the scene and reveal shapes in the visual field not only in relationship to each other but also in relationship to the boundary of the rectangle.
I suggest painting the large, major shapes first, covering the entire picture plane before adding any subsidiary tones.
These paintings can be loosely rendered or stylized if you prefer – remember this is more about capturing the colors than your painting skill. Try to render the colors as precisely as you see them. If colors are mixed and applied with care, the resulting picture can evoke the time of day or prevailing weather conditions.
Gaddy in 2D 