What Can I Draw Background

For most paintings, regardless of subject matter or media, it's essential to consider the background as part of the composition.

Even if you decide to just leave empty space around your image, then you are still creating a background because the plain canvas or paper - whether white or tinted - will have a significant impact - good or bad - upon the final finished piece.

Don't forget, for all the positive shapes you create in your picture, the background will represent the negative shapes in between or around them. So the background is vitally important and not just an 'add-on' to finish off with.

Let's have a look in this blog post at what options the artist needs to consider when thinking about backgrounds.

As we progress, I thought I'd include some pictures produced as lessons by our fantastic panel of tutors, as well as some superb works produced by some of the Members. These contain so many different types of background and what I'll do is to interpret why they've selected what they have done, for that picture.

Hopefully, that will give you a bit of a head start when you come to view the lessons yourself, and when you make your own decisions about choosing backgrounds.

Some Types of Background

• None added
• Vignetted
• Simple and plain
• More detailed
• Background as the main subject

1. None added - this picture stands up well without a background:

The warm, tinted paper in this coloured pencil portrait by Jane Lazenby acts perfectly as both a natural base colour for the dog and as an untouched background as well.

2. Vignetted - some background is painted but only to focus attention on the main image, with  blank areas at the edges of the picture:

The significant unpainted areas in this still life by Rob Dudley help to push the viewer's gaze into the main elements of the grouping and especially those excellent reflections in the metal pot.

3. Simple and plain - a series of coloured tones but no detail:

In Marian Dutton's rendition of sunflowers the variegated background, fading from pale blue at the top left to pale cream, not only allows the flower heads to stand out clearly but also establishes the light source coming from the right.

The added diffused shadow to the left prevents the pot hovering in mid-air and 'sits it down', even though no hint of a table has been added in the background.

4. More detailed - some detail, such as the far side of an interior room or background leaves & trees in a wildlife study:

This time, in one of Marian's lovely bird studies, the plain pale background, centre and bottom right, allows complete focus on the bird, while the very simple leaves, overlaid on top of the background colour, point gently towards and frame the subject in its natural environment.

5. Background as the main subject - relying upon the foreground/middle distance to become the 'supporting cast':

In this dramatic evening sky by Rob Dudley, the roles have been reversed, so all the attention is upon the myriad of colours in the evening glow.

What might have been the main focus - the townscape - has been reduced to a virtual silhouette, and in effect has become the background, which itself provides the context for the sky.

Put a piece of card or your hand over the bottom part of the picture so only the sky is visible and it becomes almost a meaningless abstract of colours, proving that you need both the subject matter and the background to work together.

Now, of course, these are just five examples and the styles, colouring, strength and impact of backgrounds are as numerous as the number of paintings in existence.

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So What Makes a Good Background?

Essentially, I'd say three factors make a good background, while if in doubt, keeping it as simple as possible:

• It complements rather than competes with the main elements. You never want a background that fights for attention with the focal point.
• It unifies the picture. At least one colour used in the background should pick up on some of the colouring in the main elements of the picture.
• It enhances the picture. The picture should look better with the background than without it.

1. Complements and doesn't compete:

Look at the way Jane Lazenby, in this Nevada scene, has muted the background mountains to give a tremendous sense of depth. The colours are essentially those used in the foreground rocks but very much tinted with white.

Thus the distant mountains in no way compete for attention with the focal point but provide the essential mass of backcloth that sets off the main areas of the foreground rocks so well.

2. Unifies the picture:

Here, Marian Dutton has used small dabs of the colours used in the goldfinch and the flower petals to add interest to the background. It remains quite colourful, but being so diffused, it links the background seamlessly to the main elements and hints at more flowers - and even birds - just out of the viewer's focus.

3. Enhances the picture:

In this lovely simple snow study by Geoff Kersey, I've digitally removed the distant trees from the right-hand shot.

Even though they're only dabs of paint dropped wet in wet into damp paper and so completely without detail, look how much the quality of the scene is diminished by their omission.

When Do I Consider What Background I Should Paint?

Well often, this is where a little bit of pre-planning comes in handy!

You could go off and splash paint to create a wonderful portrait, and start thinking halfway through what sort of background you should give it - or what colour(s)/texture(s) should be included.

We've all done this at some time - I certainly have. Quite often I've altered the background as a picture has developed because I've sensed something that would work better, or the colours I thought were going to work, simply haven't had the desired effect.

In fact, many experienced artists like to get a feel of how the painting is developing before they commit to a background and almost let the painting tell them when to include it and what form it should take.

However, they will instinctively build in those factors that I mentioned above, in terms of being complementary, providing unity and whether it's going to improve the picture.

And they'll often roughly block in some of the background, so at least there's something in place that can be adjusted as they progress.

I'd always advise the less experienced painter to give at least some thought beforehand as to what background they might use.

Sometimes, the background selects itself, of course. The mood of a landscape is invariably created by the sky, so if you're creating a mountain scene on a stormy day, a heavy thundery sky may well provide the ideal backdrop to your painting.

Now in an acrylic or pastel picture, you could roughly put in a semblance of the clouds, with the option to adjust things as you go along.

However with a watercolour, this will probably be your starting point, so you definitely have to be clear about your background before you pick up the brush!

In this acrylic mountain scene by Jane Lazenby, the cloudy background sky is, tonally, as strong as the mountains, contrasting with what we've just been discussing about not competing with the foreground.

However, with a weaker or more benign sky, the impact of the entire painting would be significantly reduced, so sometimes a stronger background is right for the picture.

This only works though because Jane has clearly thought through what was needed beforehand.

Now not having a totally clear idea of what the background should be, shouldn't prevent you from starting a picture, if you know what the subject matter is beforehand.

For the most part, though, giving some consideration early in the planning process can save the heartache of adding an ill-conceived background which is always going to look like an afterthought - which of course, is exactly what it is.

Background Errors

Quite often of course, even for the experienced artist, the selected background doesn't turn out to be as expected. Or for some other reason, it just doesn't work.

Typical faults (but by no means an exhaustive list!) are:

• It's too strong in tone and dominates the rest of the picture
• It's too busy and competes for attention with the foreground
• There's a mistake in the background which draws the eye straight to it
• The wrong colours are used and it looks like it's out of a completely different painting
• It's a large area in a painting that lacks interest

1. Too strong in tone:

Background too dominant for the rest of the picture? Well here's an example I've manufactured based on a Class winner and a wonderful watercolour from one of the monthly ArtTutor Challenges, by Diana Boanas (yes it really is a watercolour and not a photo!).

Now Diana has produced this fantastic piece of work on the right with no background, relying on the subject matter to say it all.

The bottle and its exploding contents are all you need and are superbly depicted, but I've photo-shopped a strong blue background in place on the left to see what would happen.

Now the usual criticisms of my limited photo-editing skills have to be taken into account, but you can see how much impact the picture loses by having that strong blue background, even though it's quite plain in texture.

If the picture is strong enough without a background then go with it!

2. Too busy and competes for attention:

Another of our Members, Blockley 99, has recently produced this lovely scene of a cart being used to display an array of colourful flowers and plants.

Now if Barbara had blindly followed the photo reference (left), the inclusion of all the background clutter would have detracted from her painting.

Instead, that has rightly been omitted and replaced with a much simpler hint of a distant summer sky.

In addition, the grassy area has been simplified and vignetted to further focus on the cart and flowers. Remember the 'background' isn't just what's at the back of the picture. It's the supporting cast and may well, as here, include the foreground too.

3. There's a mistake in the background which draws the eye straight to it:

Top tutor Sian Dudley has produced a lesson on eradicating mistakes in your watercolours and this one is a perfect fit for this article.

You can see that the cauliflower that's appeared in the left-hand picture, as well as a couple of other blotches, instantly draws the eye to them.

In the right-hand view Sian shows you how to eradicate them and with the background cleaned up, the picture looks so much better.

4. The wrong colours are used and it looks like it's out of a completely different painting:

Another of our Members who regularly produces wonderful, inspirational work is Gill Farquharson. Here, Gill has produced a lovely, unified evening glow to a view of the Grand Canal in Venice.

Note how the warm sky, buildings and water are all harmonised by the colours she's used throughout the picture.

In the right-hand version though, I've replaced the sky with a much cooler example. It's actually part of the sky from a brilliant snow scene by Geoff Kersey, so nothing at all wrong with the colours or texture.

On the face of it, it doesn't look at all bad. However, the mix of cool and warm has completely unbalanced Gill's picture, not least because the water should now be reflecting blue rather than the yellow and pink of the original sky.

The new sky is very good but simply doesn't work in this particular painting.

And just in case you're wondering what that cool sky looks like in its proper context, here's Geoff's picture for you to admire.

And while we're gazing down the snowy lane, see how the pattern of distant fields and hedges have been very simply treated as a few streaks and dabs of blue/grey paint, thus pushing those features back into their proper place in the background.

5. It's a large area in a painting that lacks interest:

Regardless of the subject matter, any picture needs 'quiet' passages in it to counterbalance the interesting areas and the focal point.

However, it can get too quiet and you need to inject interest sometimes, with some added texture or small detail. Nothing to fight with the main elements, but enough to stop it becoming boring and to add movement and tension.

Muriel44 (Marie's) Challenge winning entry in February last year provides an excellent example.

The vibrancy and movement of the girl on the street has been superbly captured in coloured pencil. The background treatment could have been left blank, still providing an excellent submission, as the dynamic pose probably allows it to stand by itself.

However, notice how Marie has added a hint of cool, grey texture in the background, suggesting an urban street and wall, complemented by the swirls following the movement of the girl's arm and body, enhancing the edginess and devil-may-care attitude in her stance.

Subtle, but these small added areas of texture have really lifted the picture from the very good to excellent.

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So How Do I Choose a Background?

Hopefully, you're starting to realise that the selection of a background is very much part of the picture and needs to reflect what your subject matter is going to be - landscape, still-life, floral, portrait and so on.

Let's take a still-life as an example. From what direction is the light source? Is it going to be a high key or low key work i.e. well-lit or a more sombre depiction?

By the way, don't mistake high and low key for just very bright or very dark and dull.

It simply means that the range of tonal values tend to be closer together in a low key version than the high key picture, where you have a greater extreme of light lights and dark darks.

In these two still life compositions by Carole Massey, note how the higher-key version on the left relies on the light to lift the jug, to cast highlights on the glass and help the figs and grapes to glow.

The light is also bouncing off the stone wall and tabletop. Consequently, there is a darker tone to the front of the table, which remains in shadow.

What could have been a large uninteresting area in the wall has also been expertly broken up by several judiciously painted cracks in the plaster.

In the slightly lower key painting on the right, the light is from the right but noticeably more restrained.

Note how the table top and front are tonally closer than in the table in the high key picture. However it's this turning down of the light, especially on the background wall, that has allowed the white flowers to sing out with light from their petals.

You may get a better sense of this high key/low key variance by looking at these pictures when converted to black and white.

In each case, the different treatment of a similar background (and by background I'm also including the table-top) has resulted in an effective foil for the main subjects.

Moving on then, is the picture going to have lots of rustic textures and surfaces such as wood, canvas, rope, fruit and so on, suggesting warmer background tones?

Or are you intending to create a harder array of items such as pots, glasses and bottles in a kitchen scene, which might suggest complementary hard-surfaced tiles in the background?

Or, will you go the opposite way and decide on say a softer, curtained background to contrast and emphasise the harder materials?

It's your choice!

The colouring and tonal strength is important to work out beforehand, as is the location and number of the key elements in the picture.

If you have a busy landscape scene, then you need to think about minimising at least some of the background detail and to mute the colours elsewhere to provide some essential calm passages.

In this oil painting by James Willis, we have a very busy street scene, populated with numerous figures, either on the move or engaged in conversation.

Instantly this generates a good deal of animation.

James has counterbalanced this by not only leaving the visible sky as a simple pale blue area, but his treatment of the background buildings shows similar restraint by utilising simple blocks of colour and minimising window and roof detail.

If, as is likely at some point, you paint from a reference photo or photos, don't necessarily be a slave to what is in the photo, especially the background.

For a portrait, for example, the background is very often inappropriate and intrudes upon the picture, rather than enhancing it.

Look at this delightful alla prima portrait of 'Pippa' produced by Peter Keegan.

You can see from the photo that behind her sits part of an ironing board and a fridge-freezer. All very contemporary but not necessarily what you'd want as a backdrop for your kid's portrait!

Now Peter has made no attempt to add a background because the lesson was all about painting oils in 'alla prima', i.e. all in one session. However, the finished study is so much better for the blank background, thus focussing attention on the girl's face.

In a similar study by Peter, this time of 'John', you can see from the reference photo that the background is a classroom, but it is so cluttered that the eye immediately darts to the detail in it, rather than remaining on the face.

Peter has overcome this in his painting by picking up on one of the background colours, the yellow in a chart, and adding this as a vignetted area to effectively frame the face. The yellow colour, being complementary of purple, sits ideally with the purples and blues in John's coat and bow tie.

However, sometimes you'll want the background around portraits to give context to the subject.

In this oil painting of 'Blaze & Whizz' I produced for a friend several years back, we wanted to capture the little devil in Whizz, who, as a puppy, was invariably into mischief, together with his long-suffering older brother Blaze, in an environment in their home that was entirely natural for them.

While taking many reference photos of the dogs, it emerged that the flat leather seat was where Whizz usually retired to when he knew he was in trouble.

The little yellow rubber shape just peeping out from behind the sofa was a favourite toy of both of them so that had to go in.

We found an angle in the living room where there was no real clutter and the door position was correct.

The pattern on the carpet was toned down and as a result, we 'found' a background that was entirely authentic from the family's point of view but complementary and non-intrusive from an artistic perspective and compositionally, it worked well.

In some cases, the composition is such that it's hard to determine where the main elements finish and the background begins, but it's not a big problem if you understand the process beforehand.

Joanne Boon-Thomas is a wonderful exponent of loose watercolours and her vibrant floral work is rightly admired. Look at this picture of one of her lessons of hollyhocks.

The photo is pretty straightforward, with the hollyhocks clearly defined against a pale cloudy sky. However, it makes for a fairly static, boring display.

Now compare that to her painting on the right where the photo has been used merely as a fleeting reference to the form of the flowers and a riot of colour, movement and energy has emerged.

Although the background appears busy and in some areas, tonally stronger than the flowers, these tones have been expertly built up as the background surrounding the light pink petals, so that the latter stands out clearly as the focal point.

Joanne's concentration has been on ensuring those stronger tones in the background provide the essential counterchange with the flowers, but she's left the wet areas to actually mix together and paint themselves, only softening off at the edges to allow the colours to bleed in a totally random but pleasing manner.

Background Examples

Well, we've already looked at a number of background examples on this blog post, but I thought I'd finish off by looking at a number of others from various lessons, which you can look at more closely and consider using as inspiration for your own paintings.

This seascape by Dave Jeffrey is a fine example of a scumbled background which adds significantly to the mood of the scene. Scumbling is the technique of dragging (usually) lighter paint over a darker coat in a semi dry-brushed effect.

Note how the paler brush strokes in the open part of the sky have been dragged down at a slight angle from right to left to create blustery movement, at the same time leading the eye to the boats. Conversely, the clouds have been painted in random directions, suggesting that they're being blown all over the place. Absolutely key to enhancing the atmosphere of a blustery day on the water.

In this lovely owl study by Paul Apps, a similar technique has been employed, but in this case, the foreground grasses effectively form part of the backdrop to highlight the owl in its environment.

This has been emphasised by Paul using the pale creams and oranges of the grasses to blend into the background and gently into the sky.

No detail here but it acts so well as massed background grasses because the eye reads it as such due to the foreground colouring.

Note that items placed in the middle distance or even the foreground, as with these grasses, can still form part of the 'background' too.

Rebecca De Mendonca's beautiful pastel work of the ballerina, by contrast, uses almost no background at all. The dark blue of the paper used is almost all that is needed with a few colourful streaks of pale yellows and pinks, emphasising the movement of the dancer, floating in mid-air.

Glynis Barnes-Mellish has a justifiably top-class reputation for watercolour figure work and her portrayal of the girl bathing illustrates the value of a restrained background.

The focus is on the warm, subtle skin tones and the back of her head.

Therefore, a muted and cooler pale blue/grey wall, and the gentle, pastel tones in the bath, the soap, towels and even the steamed-up taps, ensures that the focus of the viewer stays on the figure, with the rest of the background providing the necessary context.

Now for something totally different...

Have a look at Carole Massey's acrylic study of a wine bottle and glass.

In this case, she's used acrylic paper with a basket weave texture and painted the background beforehand with an ink roller, by picking up paint randomly from the palette as the roller moves over the colours.

The first two photos are screenshots from the lesson and explain it far better than my words could.

It shows you should never be afraid to experiment with different tools or materials to create texture and marks - especially in the background!

Jonathan Newey's magnificent tiger provides us with a simple green background - ideal when set with a busy main subject, in this case with multiple stripes and fur and facial detail.

Note though, how the thickly applied 'choppy' and multi-directional brushstrokes provide a subtle suggestion of foliage beyond the wonderful beast.

The black labrador portrayed by Jane Lazenby has a suitably alert look about him and she has implied he's in the midst of a field without showing any greenery whatsoever.

Instead, she's relied upon a few sharply painted foreground blades of grass while similar but less-defined grasses, on a pale pastel background, sit behind and effectively surround him, completing the illusion of his outdoor location.

In Rob Dudley's dazzling estuary scene, the background colours in the sky have been replicated down the paper and into the water area.

A close look at the painting will reveal a matching blue patch in the top and bottom centre with the pale yellows visible in the centre of the sky and sea.

This might seem like stating the obvious, but it's so often overlooked by newcomers to watercolour painting and underlines the point I made when adding the 'wrong' sky to Gill Farquharson's Venetian scene.

It provides essential unity throughout the picture and it's so necessary to include in watercolour, as the sky and sea will need to be done at the beginning before any other detail is added.

Now, of course, backgrounds are just as important if you're using a drawing medium such as charcoal. In this picture of a farmhouse by Joanne Boon-Thomas, I've removed the background clouds that she put in, blending the charcoal with her fingers.

Compare this with the photo of the finished piece below where the clouds are replaced, just as she drew them.

Note the difference in drama and interest Joanne created in her 'proper' version, with just an addition of a little smudging here and there in the sky.

And while we're with Joanne, look at this study of three mature hikers.

If you've ever become disheartened by producing cauliflowers in your watercolour backgrounds and believe they're automatically ruined because of it, then here's great news for you!

In this study, Joanne has concentrated on using the same limited palette used in the figures to create the background.

So right away, you have unity throughout the painting. She's developed a lovely sense of really bright light by using the colours very strongly to counter-change against the right side of the figures, leaving a halo of white around them.

Then, by leaving the left side of the picture unpainted, she's really switched on the sunlight.

But look at the run-backs and cauliflowers that punctuate the background. Instead of ruination, we have texture, interest and inspiration!

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Conclusion

So to re-cap... plan and create your backgrounds so that they :

• Complement but don't compete with the main subject
• Help to unify the painting
• Above all, enhance your picture

Now we've looked at a fair few paintings from within our tutor base to prove they actually practice what they preach.

And I've been delighted to be able to include several of our Member's artworks, who are clearly getting things right - especially with their backgrounds!

I could have included many more of course, but the idea is to get you to see the background as an integral part of your painting, even if you add or amend it later on in the painting process.

Hopefully, you'll have also picked up some of the reasons why a particular background works in some situations - but not in others.

And I'm pretty sure that I've succeeded in that, because if you've read this far, you can't fail to start looking at all sorts of backgrounds now, in your own work and that of others.

Now that I've put the thought in your mind, you won't be able to help yourself.....

I guarantee it!

What Can I Draw Background

Source: https://www.arttutor.com/Backgrounds

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