Jason Tako attributes much of his recent success to the guidance he received from Scott L. Christensen during a ten-day workshop held in Christensen’s studio. “I owe a lot of my success in Easton, Maryland to Scott Christensen,” Tako says with appreciation. “His advice was very helpful in fine tuning my paintings and resolving a number of loose ends. For example, he helped me key a painting to an important set of relationships, and then make sure I maintain that balance of color, value, intensity, and edges. He also changed my approach from establishing a center of interest and working out to one of dealing on the entire painting at once, paying attention to the large relationships of the whole. Overall, he helped me understand the broader issues that affect the total presentation, as well as some technical issues.

“After I returned home from the workshop, I changed my focus and approach,” Tako adds. “I began to mass in the big shapes and look at those quite critically to make sure they offered some real potential for the paintings. I reminded myself that what is out there in nature may not be all that is needed to make a great painting, and I will probably have to think about each of the elements and adjust them as I add them to the paintings. It’s especially hard for plein air painters like me to stop feeling obliged to paint a literal representation of what I see because I want to respond honestly to nature, but I have to remind myself that I am free to move or eliminate trees, increase or decrease the sense of depth, shift the relationships of values and colors, or make any other changes that will improve the painting. Scott also persuaded me to tone down the colors and hold back on using strong colors. I used to try to match the seemingly intense chroma that I saw in the landscape, only to end up in frustration.” For more information, visit his website at www.jasontako.com.

DEMONSTRATION: OAK TREE STUDY

Using a limited palette of cadmium lemon, cadmium red medium, ultramarine blue and titanium white, the Jason Tako pre-mixed his basic color masses.

Step 1: Tako made a small graphite compositional sketch of the oak tree and Virginia Worm Fence on the grounds of Gettysburg National Military Park.



Step 2: Using a warm neutral tone thinned with mineral spirits, he drew the outlines of basic compositional shapes using a small bristle brush.



Step 3: The artist massed in the dark shape of the oak tree and worked his way to the slightly lighter shapes of the background trees while being very careful in evaluating the relative values.



Step 4: Tako finished massing in the large shapes in the sky and ground plane, making sure that all the value and color relationships were in tune with each other.



Step 5: He modeled the subtle shapes of the leaf masses in the trees, maintaining a delicate balance between defining the shapes within the tree and maintaining the large overall shape.



Step 6: Tako finished the foreground by adding greens and dark accents around the fence.
 

The completed painting: “Oak Tree Study,” oil on linen panel, 8 x 10. Collection the artist. Tako finished the painting in his studio by softening edges and making small adjustments in the foreground around the fence.