Grand Canyon WIP [Archive]

Piper Ballou

11-09-2005, 11:26 PM

CindyW

11-10-2005, 12:53 AM

Hi Piper, this is going to be a BEAUTY!! as much as you might feel it has lots of problems, I see that it's already shaping up so nicely!
Here's a few observations/suggestions, if you'd like....
The sky looks fine to me. That southwest sky is that brilliant as I recall.
The front rocks look lovely to me as they are right now, loose and colorful, but I know you've just started and will be working on everything more.
The horizon looks tilted to the right and not as balanced as it feels like it should be.
The redness doesn't look too much to me. I think it all depends on how you want it look. If you want it to be photorealistic, maybe it is a bit red. But, if you want it to be vibrant and alive as it looks now, just add some highlights to your reds. Keep them as the base and add some other lighter colors on top but don't get rid of your reds completely. It's very regal feeling. Adding lighter spots here and there, where the light source hits the rock,as well as adding darker areas of shadow, will also get rid of the dullness you feel it might get with softening further.
It's really going to be a beauty and I'm going to check this thread out often!
Have fun!
Cindy

Trilby

11-10-2005, 02:34 AM

Piper, I told ya, you'll love landscapes and be good at them! This is an ambitious painting and you have a great start. I don't see the reds as too bright or too red. They await the highlights and shadows as Cindy describes; also the "wedding cake" layering. When you get in the creams, lavenders and blues, darker and lighter reds it will all come together. You are getting the distant, painterly quality. If you are unhappy with the sky, try scumbling some purples into it at the top.However, I think it's fine as is. Gonna be following this one.
TJ

Kathryn Wilson

11-10-2005, 07:56 AM

What ever made me think I could paint the grand canyon...I see lots of problems with this one and need advice
1st..I have not done much work on the front left rocks and snow, will post again when I really begin working on those,

2. I am trying hard not to paint every crack in the canyon, but give it a soft, distance looking background, think it is way to red, not sure how to soften it anymore without letting it look dull.

3. How does the sky look, I always have trouble with the sky?

about 16 by 20 on wallis paper with a watercolor underpainting

Need advice, suggestions, and good kind words, so let me know what you think.
piper

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/09-Nov-2005/8539-grand_canyon_resized.jpg

Boy, Piper, when you pick a landscape, you go on the grand scale - pun intended - :evil:

I do think you have an amazing start here - and I know how it is to be looking at all those lines and cracks - just don't try to paint all of them. Soften them as you go down into the canyon - or leave them out altogether. I used an eggplant color in some of my rocks in my Bryce Canyon painting and that worked well. As you look into the distance in the canyon, you might want to add blues and purples. Your sky looks fine - you've got the light at the horizon just as it should be. I suspect your horizon line is off due to camera angle? It's got to be dead on for this to look right.

Piper Ballou

11-10-2005, 08:54 AM

Thanks Cindy, TJ and Kat for your wonderful words of wisdom. I can see the tilt to the right, thanks for pointing that out. I have added a lot of of purples and pinks to it so I am glad I was on the right track. I am really trying not to be absolute photo realistic, so I am trying to squint my eyes a lot and not see all the cracks and etc.
thanks for your support I hope to really work on it this weekend.
piper

Orchidacea

11-10-2005, 09:08 AM

Piper, I think this is looking wonderful! You've got a lot of good advice now, too--I don't think you have a thing to worry about!

(I did chuckle when I saw the title--ambitious!--the grandmother of all landscape subjects!)

Deborah Secor

11-10-2005, 10:20 AM

Piper, it's good!

I think the foreground slope is quite strong as it is, and the contrast there makes it the star of the show. The white allows the slopes to stand in front, especially up against the dark greens of the trees.

As for the red of the distant cliffs, you can go one of several ways and have it work. You can REDDEN the near cliff so that those colors already laid in are paler in comparison--a colorist approach. Or you can cool and somewhat lighten the distant cliffs while keeping the near side warmer (remember the rules of aerial perspective: in the distance details diminish, edges soften, contrasts are less, colors are cooler, and values paler)--a tonalist approach. Or you can a combination of these approaches...

Your sky is brilliant--a good, believable blue to me. Beware it not become too dark, or a gloomy color, in comparison to the rest.

Have fun!

Deborah

Mikki Petersen

11-10-2005, 11:35 AM

Piper, this is starting out beautifully. One of my earliest landscapes was of the Grand Canyon. I began by thinking it would be an abstract so I used a lot of shades of purple in the background cliffs with just touched of the reds and those in dulled, grayed shades, saving the vivid colors for the foreground. It worked so well it ended up being a realist work instead of an abstract and hangs proudly in my son's office.

If you are interested, it is on this page of my website http://www.mikpete.com/id2.html
I only refer to the coloration as example. The actual painting is clearly done by a novice.

Mikki

Piper Ballou

11-12-2005, 12:01 AM

thanks Kim, Deborah and Mikki for your wonderful suggestions. I did look at your painting Mikki, think you have the reference posted in the library too, because I was also thinking of painting it. thanks for sharing it with me, gave me some direction.

After letting the painting rest for a couple of days I decided that I did not like the way the plateaus met and made a V shape. I have been to this point in the canyon several times and it just isn't so, and being the draw every detail you see type of person I decided that I would never be happy with it knowing that looking that way in the canyon one would not see that view. So......good thing I am using Wallis, because I erased most of what I had done and worked late into the night to redo it.

I am very happy with the painting so far (the horizon only looks crooked because I held the camera that way, sorry)
I have about the top 1/4 just about finished an some on the right side. so it looks just about finished to the point of the first photo I took. the foreground is still pretty rough and just blocked in.
again, any suggestions are most helpful and very much appreciated
thanks

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/11-Nov-2005/8539-grandcanyon2resized.jpg

Orchidacea

11-12-2005, 01:51 PM

Piper, I really think this is gonna be a stunner. I've never been there, so i guess my judgement is suspect--but I LOVE the colors and shapes you've got going here!

scall0way

11-12-2005, 04:21 PM

I know I don't have the sort of eye yet to be a good critiquer, but I just want to say how beautifully I think this is coming along. The top part which you say is finishes looks fabulous to me. I've only been to the Grand Canyon once, and that was 35 years ago when I was a teenager! But your picture brings back some good memories.

Piper Ballou

11-13-2005, 04:17 PM

Thanks Debbie
I worked on this painting some more, think I just have the front rocks to do with the snow, been saving them for last because they are going to be fun.
C&C very much welcomed
piper

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/13-Nov-2005/8539-Grand_Canyon_3_resized.jpg

Bringer

11-13-2005, 05:40 PM

Hi,

This is too much sand for my truck.
It's worst than a taser. My brain got blocked.
Lots and lots of congratulations !

Regards,

José

Piper Ballou

11-13-2005, 06:44 PM

thanks Jose...
I noticed on post here that I had some little specks of wallis paper showing through, went and blended them in

Piper Ballou

11-13-2005, 09:40 PM

think with a few tweaks I am almost finished..

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/13-Nov-2005/8539-Grand_Canyon_4_resized.jpg

Orchidacea

11-13-2005, 09:57 PM

Something feels off to me here, but maybe it's just my monitor or the photo. The rocks are so beautifully executed, but what I see is that the extreme detail in the foreground rocks switches over too abruptly to the looser, blurred rendering of the furthest rocks. I guess I'm looking for a middle ground that is halfway between the foreground and the distant rocks in its level of detail. Does that make any sense? I'm no landscape painter, so I may be way off base here, but that's all i can come up with for what's bothering me here. Maybe just a more gradual transition between foreground and middle distance? I think the rocks closest to the detailed foreground rocks should ahve a little more detail themselves to smooth the transition. Yes, that's what I'm trying to say, lol.

I still think it's beautiful--you've done a heck of a job on ALL the rocks!!

Piper Ballou

11-13-2005, 10:18 PM

thanks Kim, I think you may be correct..think I had worked hours and wanted to finish it so I pushed it on the foreground, I will let it sit for a day or two and then look at it fresh again.
I think I will make the rocks in the foreground more detailed...
thanks this helps a lot
piper

Deborah Secor

11-13-2005, 10:18 PM

Piper, you've put a lot of time into this and it's looking good, but I want to encourage you to take it a smidgen farther!

If this was mine I'd heighten the contrast of warm and cool more, allowing the front rocky slope to be quite warm, with a variety of oranges, golds, purples, pinks and rusts, as well as brighter, whiter masses of snow (I suspect your reference isn't deep snow, but if you want it to read as snow at all you have to push it...) and purer masses of green trees for heightened contrast. I'd layer some slightly cooler red-violets over the rocks down in the canyon so that there is an immediate sense of air. I want to know that there is a jump in distance beyond the front range, indicated by a cooling and slight lightening of color. Remember the five things that change with distance:

--cooler color
--lighter value
--dimished intensity
--softer edges
--less contrast

This has to continue to happen, so that in the near distance there is some detail, color, intensity, etc, but as it increases all these elements progressively change. You've done an excellent job of the most distant canyon wall!

Personal opinion: the smudges of greenish color on the mesa tops in the canyon aren't finished looking... look for beautiful colors to use throughout the painting!

And tomorrow when you see this with fresh eyes you'll see that you missed a section of snowy rock in the foreground so that there's a big point sticking out.

Looking good, tweak away and show us the result!

Deborah

Go look at Scott Christensen's field studies here (http://www.christensenstudio.com/field_studies.htm), about halfway down look at his Grand Canyon stuff--and then go to the next field study page and pull up the Grand Canyon there, too. Yes, it's all done in oils, but you'll see what I mean! (I like this guy's name, too! :D )

Trilby

11-13-2005, 10:49 PM

Oh Piper!; I'm so proud of you! This is a terrifically great job. I've been there and this is exactly what it looks like. you've got the colors right, the aerial perspective. Love the foreground rocks and the brush on them and the snow. No nit pics from me, just a hug and a pat on the back.
TJ

Piper Ballou

11-13-2005, 10:50 PM

Deborah, I can step back and see what both you are Kim are talking about, thank you so much. think I got in a hurry, another of life's little lesson I learned tonight, I cannot rush things...

Thanks TJ, you are always close to my heart with encouragment and friendship and, yes, the grand canyon is a wonderful place, I feel like I am almost there with this one, .but I am really going to push it as Deborah mentioned....first really need to figure how to paint snow.

Piper

meowmeow

11-14-2005, 02:09 PM

What an ambitious painting, Piper....I think you are doing an amazing job...it has been fun coming in late and seeing the progress. YOu are getting excellent advice here and I think you will end up with something you can be very proud of.

Sandy