Mountain road is a problem!

[Enid Goyers]

Hi there,

Hopefully somebody can help me with my big problem.

1. The mountain road in the back of the painting is almost not visible. What can I do to make it "jump at you"?

2. The bottom part is also a problem. In nature it is fulll of dry grey grass and green-grey bushes. If I bring these in, the foreground is really disturbing the whole view, too dominant. The green of the bushes and yellow tones for the grass is no good. When I use the natural grey grass color, it doesn't really match the mountain color either.
What could I do instead?

Please help me as I have promised the painting to somebody, who is waiting for it, so I got to finish it in some way.
Thank you so much in advance for any advice or comment.
Enid

[Dcam]

Enid: this is very nice. I'm not sure what road you mean because the roads I do see are just fine. Why not crop away some of that big foreground so you won't have to deal with it?

Good luck. derek

[Yellow Ogre]

Hi Enid,

Road.
I can also see mountain road well in backround. I am not seeing fade/graying on road, maybe issue is making road more intense closer to viewer ( touch of transparent white and lemon yellow yellow applied in spots?

Does road really go off that steep at end?.

Green rows lead my eye to mountain ridge. Maybe some red or yellow light accents, purple dark spaces in the mountain notch to hold them there.

Foreground
Agree with poster above that cropping picture would make a really nice composition. Foreground greenery would detract from wonderful eye leading you have going. Maybe add tad bit more red /detail in sliver of foreground soil .

[Yellow Ogre]

Enid,

Ps - Your website has many nice paintings.

[Wassie]

I see the road just fine.
I don't see how you can crop the painting if it is on stretched canvas.

[Dcam]

Wassie.....did not catch that fact.
It is terrible to get old.

Derek

[Charlie's Mum]

The road -I'm not sure you'd really want it to leap forward when it's at such a distance Enid - it could unbalance the painting - I'd let it fade and become less prominent to lead the eye in.
I also think the width of the road should change as it recedes

If you don't like the foreground as it is in RL, why not extend the bit you do like and bring those rows of green forward and see a bit more detail of the plant life of the rows? That way, you could have the occasional taller piece of plant breaking up the lines a bit to create some foreground interest.

[draggingsticks]

It would be cool to see the reference photo you are using.

[Aires]

I like what you've accomplished so far; making that road stand out more runs the risk of losing the distance perspective you've established. If you hold something up over the intense colored foreground, I think you'll find the road immediately stands out more. You can test that trick out on the computer screen.

Perhaps you could take the suggestion of Charlie's Mum and make suggested changes on canvas paper or a gessoed surface the same size as the painting rather that painting direct onto the canvas. That way you have nothing to lose and are free to try out various foregrounds without commiting ourself to anything. As it is, the foreground color is so strong against the green that it makes it difficult to visualize the most effective changes. Just an easy method to find out what works best without disturbing your original painting. Very nice start, Enid.

[Enid Goyers]

Hello,

Thank you all for your thoughts and advice. I, myself tend to extend the rows of the plants to the foreground and leave a small area for little rocks and sand in the colors of the mountains
I cannot cut the canvas, I would if I could though!

I have no picture. On my drive from Alicante to Valencia (Spain) I was overwhelmed by the landscape and made some rough sketches out of my memory when I got home. The freeway does not give you the chance to make a stop for pictures, unfortunately.

I really appreciate your comments and hope to give you the result soon.
Thank you again.
Enid

[Enid Goyers]

Hello again,

I seem to have finished it by now and like to know what you think of my solution.
Thank you for your comments.
Enid

[Charlie's Mum]

- bringing the distance colours to the front helps unify the work.
More detail in the rows and some stronger colour -all good

[Aires]

Very nice solution, Enid. The entire painting improved with the way you handled the foreground. Based only on what my monitor shows, I would suggest comparing your first picture with the last. In the first picture, you've achieved greater distance with the soft misty most distant mountains. It may be just my monitor, but the final version has the distant mountains much brighter and more distinct, thus losing that sense of distance created in the first one. Please ignore my comments if it is just my monitor or a difference in picture taking as I know cameras and monitors seem to often enhance blues. Congratulations on your finish!

[Enid Goyers]

Hello,

Thank you for your additional comments.
Yes, my camera is capricious like a woman (sorry, I am one too). One time the colors are real and the next time different. But I didn't change the mountains.
Now I can give my painting to my good friend from GB and hope he will be happy with it.
I will leave this forum for a while as I want to try to work with water colors, but my love will stay with acrylics though.
Thank you again and wishing you a good time.
Enid