Painting a sunset

by Tissa Hewavitarane

Fig 1: A preliminary sketch

Sunsets, with their rich, glowing colours, have always been a popular painting subject. The key to painting sunsets lies in the gentle art of using warm and cool colours in the sky. The sky at sunset takes on a radiant glow which even the brightest pigment colours can never hope to match.

The artist, therefore, should know how to use his skill to create the illusion of radiant light in his painting. One way to do this is by including warm and cool colours in the sky, because a warm colour always appears warmer and brighter when placed next to a cool colour.

When painting the sunset use pure clear transparent pigments which allow light to reflect off the paper and up through the colours, thus increasing the impression of light and luminosity. Adjacent warm and cool colours have the effect of intensifying each other, and this creates a luminous glow that spells the sunset.

Colours like cadmium red and yellow ochore should be used sparingly, because they are relatively opaque. A suitable palette of transparent colours might include vemillion or alizarin crimson, lemon yellow or chrome yellow and cobalt blue.

Fig 2: Finished painting

Subtle tints can also be mixed from these colour; for example, Cobalt blue with just a hint of alizarin crimson added will give a rich glowing violet. It is always a big decision as to whether to put figures in a landscape or not. Be sure that whatever figure you do put in is an integral part of the picture and not just a small afterthought. They can be used in different ways to give life, movement and scale to a scene. Observe the painting the eye is always drawn to the human figure. The centre of the interest shows a woman fishmonger with a basket on her head carrying fish. This keeps the painting alive. The eye travels around from object to object.

Notice the boats at the distance. Study the painting related to this article. First make a fine pencil drawing to provide some indication of its proportions. Then add a light wash indicating the sky and surrounding warm colour of cloud and the beach working on a damp ground.

The paper used is Kent with a slight grain 150 gsm and brushes No. 1,2,6 and 8 sable hair.