Summer Storm Over the Paddock
A 5x7 painting exploring atmospheric effects and the subtle art of color temperature
Today I’m sharing “Summer Storm Over the Paddock,” a 5x7 piece I completed just a couple of days ago that demonstrates some fundamental principles about color mixing and atmospheric perspective that might surprise you. This painting has an interesting backstory—it’s based on a photograph I took about 10 years ago, around 2015. I was immediately drawn to the tree and the natural path in the composition. Unlike many of my paintings where I composite paths into scenes, this one actually had the pathway already there. However, it also had quite a lot of other elements I didn’t like, so significant changes were made from the original reference.
Summer Storm Over the Paddock 5×7
Expanding the Members Experience
Before we dive into the painting techniques, I want to update you on some exciting developments for the members area. I’m working hard to bring much more value to that space, and if you’re a member who hasn’t been checking in regularly, here’s what’s coming: I’m introducing transcripts for all the live painting sessions. While I can’t embed these directly into YouTube’s description area, I’m creating a dedicated spot on my website just for members to access these transcripts in blog format. Additionally, I’m expanding onto Substack, which will function as its own version of the members area. What’s exciting about this platform is that I can combine the transcript, video, and reference image all in one post, along with additional notes and insights. You’ll find the subscription link below this video. I love YouTube and have no intention of leaving, but expanding to another platform gives us more flexibility and opportunities to organize this wealth of information more effectively.
The Heart of the Painting: Gray Against Orange
What I find most compelling about this piece is the relationship between the gray in the sky and the warm orange-yellow. This contrast drives the entire composition and demonstrates a technique I use extensively. You might look at that sky and think it’s clearly blue, but it’s not. It’s what I call “Mike’s Gray” - a mixture of ivory black and titanium white that is always onn my palette. This approach is actually the subject of a chapter in my new book: “Gray Instead of Blue.”
Understanding Mike’s Gray
The foundation of this technique lies in understanding that ivory black is technically in the blue family. The giveaway is when you add white to it—you get a distinctly bluish, cool gray. You have to work to make it warm by adding earth pigments. This method emulates what the old masters would do. Much of what appears as “blue” in very old paintings is actually achieved through mixtures of white and black, creating a blue feeling through the influence of surrounding colors. For the warmer cloud streaks in this painting, I added raw umber to the white, and possibly some yellow ochre. The transition from these cool grayish tones into the warm yellow grass was achieved using Mars Yellow as an intermediate step—a wonderful color that’s similar to raw sienna but more consistent and opaque.
Color Mixing and Palette Choices
Mars Yellow has become indispensable in my palette because it provides a reliable alternative to yellow ochre. While I use yellow ochre as well, it’s more transparent and has a tendency to shift toward green—something that can be problematic. I also rely on what I call “Mike’s Red,” though it’s actually Winton Cadmium Red Hue. Normally I avoid hue colors (which are less expensive impressions of more costly pigments like the true cadmiums), but this particular one works well for my purposes. A note about titanium white: most brands aren’t pure titanium white (PW6) but are adulterated with zinc white (PW4) to reduce the opacity that can make paintings chalky. Lead white (PW1) is excellent for figurative work due to its flexibility, though I don’t use it much anymore. The zinc addition gives titanium white more “give,” but be careful laying it on thickly, especially on canvas, as it can crack.
Landscape Painting the Tonalist Way
Speaking of materials and techniques, my book “Landscape Painting the Tonalist Way” covers these mixing principles and much more. It represents my comprehensive approach to tonal painting, developed over 13 years of working in this manner. At $60 with international shipping included, it’s designed to be a practical resource for anyone interested in this approach to landscape painting. I’ve been shipping books worldwide recently, and it’s gratifying to see them reaching painters who appreciate this style.
Compositional Flow and the Pac-Man Fix
The grass area in this painting demonstrates important principles about modulation—varying both value and hue rather than painting areas as flat, uniform color. Yes, the grass is quite saturated but even George Inness, firmly within the tonalist tradition, wasn’t afraid to use high chroma in his grass when it served the painting. I debated where to place the brightest section of grass and ultimately positioned it to create a more visual flow: the eye travels up the path, hits that bright grass area, returns to the main tree mass, then moves up to hover around the dramatic sky. This creates a circular visual movement that keeps viewers engaged with the composition. You might notice I mentioned fixing a “Pac-Man tree” - that’s my term for when a tree creates an unfortunate notch or gap that resembles the classic video game character. It’s a subtle issue but once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Fortunately, these problems are usually easy to correct when spotted.
Atmospheric Perspective and Breaking Rules
The trees function almost like a stage set, keeping our attention focused on the real subject: the dramatic sky and its contrast with the warm middle ground. Here, I prefered to keep my trees mostly dark—that feels right for the mood I’m trying to create with this scene. The background areas required careful consideration. The reference photo was “all over the show,” so I simplified those distant forms while maintaining some variety in texture and color. Interestingly, I kept those areas warm rather than cooling them down as traditional atmospheric perspective would dictate.This illustrates something important about Tonalism: it breaks conventional rules when necessary. You’ll read in book after book that distant objects should always be cooler, but Tonalism frequently ignores this rule to achieve specific scenic effects.
Looking Ahead
Don’t forget about our live AMA session this Thursday, June 12th, at 2 PM Eastern Time. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions about any aspect of painting, and I always enjoy these direct conversations with fellow painters.I’m also excited about the Substack expansion and the transcript project. Those live sessions contain so many valuable insights scattered throughout hours of real-time painting, and making them searchable and accessible will be a game-changer for serious students of this approach.
Thanks for joining me today. Check out the Substack subscription link below for bullet points of everything we’ve discussed here, and until I come back with another video, take care, stay out of trouble, and God bless you and your family.