Breakfast at Artists Colony Inn

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Brown County Indiana is famous as an art colony. In the late 1800s a group of artists settled there. Since then, hundreds of other artists have felt that Brown County was their spiritual home. The town has a charming area with shops, restaurants, hotels and cabins. A favorite place to go is the Artist’s Colony Inn. They have a great restaurant.

One morning I was in the area. As I walked toward the Inn, a group of ladies lined up and went in for breakfast. I was intrigued by the sunlight behind them. The glow of the sun made the leaves in the trees a bright yellow, while the shadow side was blue. The buildings in the shade had a bluish tint and the others were slightly yellow from the sun.

I have tried to duplicate the feeling of that morning. I put the hanging plants and flowers in front of them to create atmospheric perspective. The flags above the woman’s head are painted small, giving the impression they are further back.

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Alley

6

” . . . i reviewed the dvd as requested. your palette is not to my taste and i would not be interested in representing your work . . .”

This is an actual e-mail I received this week. I had been trying to find a new gallery to represent me. Almost all galleries in Indiana are interested only in paintings of barns and trees. It has really bothered me in the past. That is one reason I have gone out of state to places like Detroit and Milwaukee. Recently, I have made peace with myself. I know I must be true to myself and paint what I like, and do it in my style.

This painting is REALLY a Tom Slack piece. I’m not trying to be like every other artist in Indiana — I’m just letting it flow. I love doing buildings. I adore linear and atmospheric perspective. To me, a great painting has a lot of contrast in values. Putting a person in it gives it relevance. I hope you love this painting as much as I do. I just finished it fifteen minutes ago.

By the way, I’m still interested in a new gallery . . . any takers?

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After Dinner

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The first gallery that represented me in Indianapolis was 4 Star Gallery on Massachusetts Avenue. I really liked that street because it ran diagonally southwest towards downtown. At night the buildings of the city were lit up, so I loved the view. I wanted to do a painting that would give the feelings I felt.

I’ve painted the sidewalks an amber color because the streetlights give off a yellow glow. I have yellow highlights in the hair of the people. The other streetlights have a halo around them to portray the shining of the bulbs. The top of the buildings and their windows are painted white to give the image of them being lit up, and there are two red traffic lights which reflect on the cars. The tree in the top right is black except for the branches that are close to the lights, and they are lit up.

The sidewalk is drawn in with one point perspective. It is wider at the front, which gives a feeling of depth.

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Spring in the City

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You can follow the woman right into this painting. It has atmospheric and linear perspective which gives the feeling of depth. The streetlights at the front are larger and taller than the ones further away. Leaves are hanging from a tree in the top left corner. They are higher up and larger than the trees in the background. These techniques make it appear that there is depth. Also there is linear perspective. Sidewalks and buildings are wider the closer they are to us, but narrower as they go back.

Another technique used in the painting gives the feeling of morning light. The grass on the left is painted bluish green, giving the feeling of shadow. On the right side it is yellow-green, which looks like sunlight. The large building is light on the left side, but dark bluish on the right. These things make it look like the sunlight is coming from the left.

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Rainy Saturday

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This painting is of a rainy Saturday afternoon in downtown Indianapolis. The person with the umbrella sits in a chair waiting for her ride. The green thing right above her umbrella is the canopy for the entrance to the Hilbert Center where the Indianapolis Symphony plays. In the forties, Frank Sinatra sang in there.

I made it look wet and rainy by painting the light stripes up and down in the sidewalk area giving the impression of reflections from the buildings in the background. Everything seems to fade as you go further back. This is what it looks like when it rains. Also note the linear perspective – the sidewalk is wider on the right than on the left. The car on the right is larger than the one on the left. That is atmospheric perspective. Those techniques give a feeling of depth to the painting.

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Reflections of Autumn

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This is a small body of water in Ohio County, Indiana. To do a lake picture you draw a horizon line, then put in the features above it, like the trees and sky. Next, you do a mirror image of them below. There are ripples in water, so just paint small white streaks across the reflected objects. Even better, rub your finger across them to give a distortion that waves or ripples would make. On trunks of trees put in a light side and a shadow side to give depth and shape.

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Twilight

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How can you create a look of evening shadow? What can you do to give the feeling of the sun’s glow as it is in the evening sky? It’s simple. Use color.

 

Look at my painting. It is of a farmhouse on the crest of a hill as the sun is going down. There is a dirt road. I didn’t paint it brown. It is blue. I didn’t paint the fields on either side green, just a deeper shade or value of blue. This tricks your eyes into thinking it is in shadow. The shadow side of the house is a light blue tint.

Now look to see where the sin is glowing. It is yellow. The side of the house with sunlight has a yellow tint. I have left the sky white because the strong sunlight overtakes the blue in the evening. The clouds are just some blots of bluish brown. The tree limbs look lit up. They are painted an orange shade which gives them the illusion of being illuminated by the sun.

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