Painting Outdoors

csmembedded

I think I understand the Mark Carder Method of painting but I know that I haven't space to create a studio indoors. I have a sun terrace outside where I can paint. So my question is - Does creating my colour palette using a colour checker on any given day mean that on a different day all my colours on the canvas will be more or less yellow/blue due to the change in colour of the light. Is it even possible to use the Carder Method under these conditions. Does applying paint dabs to a photo also mean the colours will appear different on different days. Does the trick of testing white with a colour checker against a white sample at the subject help under these circumstances. If so how?

dencal

csmembedded

I paint outside often, but only at night when I can control the light.
The plein air painters will be better to advise on day time problems.
Dust, wind, heat, cold, rain, insects are enough to contend with.
Adding a shifting sun , changing shadows, clouds and a constantly varying color temperature would drive me nuts.

When you say you do not have enough room, I think back to when I first joined the Carder Forum. One of the members had set himself up to paint sitting in his car. Another was able to do great work from a small table in front of the window of his one bedroom apartment.

Denis

Gary

I don't know the answer to your question. However, Mark is currently (I think!) working on a landscape video that should help to answer your questions. We have some experienced plein air artists (e.g., Shirley Gibson and Garry Kravit) who may be able to provide answers as well. By the way, Welcome!! Looking forward to seeing your art.

csmembedded

Thanks dencal and Gary for your comments. I think if Mark does a landscape video that will go a long way towards answering my questions. Having thought about it a bit since I posted my question I think I could could adopt some of the methods of the old masters and use north light and and position things so I don't use light from any other direction. I think the logic here is that any light from the north is flat and highly refracted by the atmosphere and tends to be more consistent. I'll post something when I have experimented a bit. Now my next problem is to find some float glass. Yep you wouldn't imaging it would be difficult to find glass here in Spain but I haven't found anywhere that sells it yet. Plenty of sealed double glazed window units but not sheet glass.

Mark_Carder

You should be fine, don't worry too much about the color shifts, so long as everything, photo and paint, is effected the same it should be ok. Hang some black fabric directly behind you to keep the glare off of your paint and canvas. Outdoors you can use a big black umbrella like Sargent did when he painted outdoors.

Graciella

csmembedded said:

Thanks dencal and Gary for your comments. I think if Mark does a landscape video that will go a long way towards answering my questions. Having thought about it a bit since I posted my question I think I could could adopt some of the methods of the old masters and use north light and and position things so I don't use light from any other direction. I think the logic here is that any light from the north is flat and highly refracted by the atmosphere and tends to be more consistent. I'll post something when I have experimented a bit. Now my next problem is to find some float glass. Yep you wouldn't imaging it would be difficult to find glass here in Spain but I haven't found anywhere that sells it yet. Plenty of sealed double glazed window units but not sheet glass.

Perhaps auto glass from a breaker yard might might be a solution

AZPainter

If you use Marks method of painting ad color mixing and the color checker there will not be any difference to speak of. Just work in what I would call open shade, and an umbrella with a black interior to it will do this for you. Match your colors using the color checker and the color you mix and apply to the canvas will be the same as the color checker. Open shade is pretty much the same as the 5000K lighting recommended for accurate color. This and the fact that the light hardly changes when using North light is why many artist prefer this to artificial lighting. Mark is creating the same basic light indoors is all.