Technique to painting wood and marble

[Sonny]

I am trying to paint an old monastery type of structure that has a lot
of huge wooden beams and marble columns. I have tried different colors
and techniques but I could not quite get it to look real. Any ideas
would be extremely appreciated.

[Erik A. Mattila]

Pretty hard to say without looking at what you've done, Sonny. Maybe
you should look at some "techniques" books - step by step stuff.

[Bill]

"Sonny" <nyr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1151362873.4...@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...

Your message suggests you may be trying to paint a picture of an old
monastery, or to paint the old monastery itself. If it's real marble,
don't paint it, leave it alone. If it's a picture of an old monastery
youre working on, then the beams and columns may have to be deeply shaded to
get any realistic result. Monasteries were never noted for their brilliant
lighting effects. And as for any painting you have to decide first where
the light is coming from which of course dictates the values of your light
and dark areas. Think celestory windows or rose windows.

Good luck. Bill.
>

[Sonny]

I am painting it from a picture. You are right about the beams being
deeply shaded thatn I just used black and brown combined to get a not
so black effect. As for the marble, the light is shining directly at
it so I have used a very light color plus a darker color to get the
marble effect. The hard part is making the marble look more realistic.
Right now it looks flat. I will think celestory windows or rose
windows when adding light effect to the marble.

Thanks,
Sonny

[Bob C]

There are crafting books for creating fake finishes which could give you
ideas for some techniques and tricks to use. But I remember being in a
still-life painting class with an excellent instructor when someone put
pretty much the same question to him. "This isn't faux finishing", he
said, "to make it realistic you're just going to have to paint what you
see." The trick is learning how to see beyond the immediate impression
("it's marble") to the underlying organization and structure of the
patterns and the behavior of the light falling on it, all of which add
up to create the impression of marble.

- Bob C.

[Ashley Clarke]

"Bob C" <bob...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:a_ydnepbQKOKkDzZ...@rcn.net...

This is true, but I can`t make out from the original post wether the artist
is
making a mock-up installation or a 2D Canvas?!

The throw-back of light is like Chalk and Cheese for Wood and Marble;
- For Wood you should start with an absorbing colour which gives the
illusion that it is sucking the light in and then lightly brush on the grain
with
something less absorbing (but still absorbing nontheless);
- For Marble the story is quite the opposite. This substance throws back
light a bit like that Acrylic readily available for illuminated display signs.
It doesn`t throw back light directly either but holds it a bit like a Pearl
Light Bulb where you`ll notice that the glow is very complex in relationship
to the surrounding light sources (if any). Marble can be lit from the inside.
So then, you could try extending the highlights a bit further into the shadows
for the Marble effects to start with?
You`ll notice how holding your own hand up to a strong light source will
give it a Marble effect as the top layer of skin pulls the light around it.

- To sumarise for both materials, try squinting at both types in the same
scene at the same time, this overrides the eyes natural contrast adjustment
for a short period of time, just long enough for you to notice the difference.

Old Masters called it the "inner light", I think.
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Ashley Clarke
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