x-post from Acrylic forum; 'dreaming woods'

[Ramie Leigh]

Hello!

Let me take a sec to thank JON for the invite to post in this forum - if asked, I seriously would have told you 'Well.. Is it still abstract if it has a recognisable tree...?'.. I can be a black-and-white thinker like that on occasion. :lol

This commissioned piece is an acrylic on canvas, 24" x 60". My client requested the purple sky / gold tree combination after seeing it in another painting of mine, lots of jewel tones, and turned me loose otherwise. This is almost entirely acrylic inks, the sky was done with a tube color that I thinned to pouring consistency. Some alcohol and salt to provide textures (the salt 'stars' are sorta visible in the 'shadow' under the tree on the left.)



Any critique or commentary at all is much appreciated! It's a case where I am really.. really pleased with how the thing went, therefore I'm a little paranoid and completely willing to take suggestions on what could be done better next time!

Ramie

[davefriend]

You draw my eyes in at once with the boldness of color and the rich contrasts you have created. I Love the yellows/purples and blues. Easy to imagine this as ...WOW ...when it is seen as a 24X60 piece on the wall. It appears to me to be pleasantly composed. I do not think that objects need to be unrecognizable to be abstract.

Any chance of uploading another image(s) showing some detail?

Nice work and welcome Ramie to the Ab/Con Forum.

[BlueRiderMan]

I like the title, "dreaming woods" - awesome contemporary landscape!

[Eraethil]

Really love your work, both this piece and on your website too. Definitely hits the contemporary mark. Doesn't have to be completely abstract to fit this forum. Hope you will join us more often!

The only suggestion I'd give - a minor note - is to push back the yellows in the trees on the right a little bit. I wouldn't worry about doing that on this work though. It's really amazing and needs nothing more.

[Katie Black]

Hi there!..I think this is lovely, I love the size, and I love the colours, I especially like the area at the base of the tree where I'm guessing this is where you applied a little salt..this works so well!

[Singblue]

This is beautiful. I love the intensity of color and the play of the gold against the deep purple.

[RandyC]

Hi Ramie and welcome to our forum. It is the abstract/contemporary forum and your work easily fits in the contemporary genre.

Love the strong colors and and style of your piece.

[RTT]

Excellent! I love the strong colors, the composition - very nice

[NeptunesHeat]

Interesting how the "bleeding" acrylic gives it a watercolor flavor. Great colors. My eye followed the white and went deep into the painting very fast, and skipped past the tree on the left. So maybe for next time, and this is really a maybe, would be to use a less direct path into the painting.

Chuck

[jumper]

I love this work. I too have been wondering about a cross between reality and abstract, but your work answers my question well. I love sharp contrasts between colors and you have certainly created a nice work doing this.

Keep up the great work. I will look for more of your work on the forum.

jumper

[Sean T.]

You are pleased with it (and, I suppose, as long as your client is too) - enough said. I like the gold in it.

[Ramie Leigh]

Thank you very much, everyone! I am very grateful for the suggestions and I appreciate the candor. I'm guessing every artist has been there at least once; a piece goes much more smoothly than expected and you're thinking 'Wait, can painting really be this easy? Surely not. Hang on, I'm going to show it to other artists who are better than I am and see what they think...'

If I'd had at least one knock-down drag-out session of hating it, I would've been totally relaxed about the outcome.

I am starting another commissioned painting in a similar vein (recognisable as a tree, but very abstract otherwise) and I'd be glad to post it here.

Thanks again!