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Help. I painted this one this morning. I just about had it done, when I realized that the perspective was badly off– the foreground path was going straight uphill to the sky, and the path off to the left was also going straight uphill, but to the left. When I fixed that, of course the far flowerbed corner was in a different place, so I had to re-do all of the shadows, and of course they had moved since I started, and I couldn’t really get them right, and all my brushers were dirty as was my palette, so I messed it up some more and then I just gave up and now they’re all a mess and all going in different directions with bad shapes. Here are my questions:
1) was this just a bad composition to begin with, or is it just bad because I messed it up?
2) the ground here is absolutely flat in all directions. Does it look that way in the painting now?
I guess that’s it, I’m too bummed to think about it anymore right now. I would appreciate any suggestions.
Lisa
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I think a big part of my problem was choosing the site badly– the long shadows of it appealed to me, but even as I picked it I knew that it was going to change rapidly– I started probably around 8:30 or 9:00. Picking a scene that depends on the shapes of shadows at a time of day when I know they’re going to change rapidly is dumb. Also, the angle of the sun to the path was such that as the sun moved, the shadows didn’t just get shorter, but the angle at which they crossed the path changed. Plus, as the light changed, my spot sitting in the shade turned to sun as well, so I was struggling to see the colors & values on my palette and panel. I’ve noticed that all of my plein air successes seem to come either on cloudy days, or when I have a reliably shady place to sit for the duration of my painting session. Our sun is just so blindingly brilliant that I can’t cope with it on my work. I have got to figure out how to rig up an umbrella soon. It wasn’t so necessary during the winter, but now it’s getting to be an essential.
But, I think you’re right too, Carly, in that it’s hard to get a path like this to lie down in a painting. If I try something like this again, I will lighten it off into the distance as well as work to emphasize the horizontal.
Wayne, I figure that plein air is like anything else– if we do it enough, we HAVE to get good at it. But, tomorrow I’m going to choose something that I think I can succeed at (I knew this one was a gamble). And I will be IN THE SHADE.
Lisa
My Ebay Auctions[i]Originally posted by walden [/i]
[B]
I figure that plein air is like anything else– if we do it enough, we HAVE to get good at it. But, tomorrow I’m going to choose something that I think I can succeed at (I knew this one was a gamble). And I will be IN THE SHADE. [/B]Mark my words…in time, ya’ll are going to see my cliche of needing to do “120 bad paintings to learn something about painting!” is not really all that off.
If we decide we are going to do this thing called painting for the rest of our lives; if we discover we are impassioned and enjoy this; if we decide that learning and our own satisfaction comes before concerns of sales….THEN…[/B] its not such a bad thing that its going to simply take time.
Hey…there’s nothing wrong with feeling like you’ve paid your dues. There’s nothing wrong with learning and appreciating why some become known and referred to as masters…
…others simply throw the towel in before that transition happens. That’s why I emphasize enjoying this, and letting yourself experience it AS as journey.
Painting is a form of celebrating “life”…the form is not why we celebrate. “Life” …is the what and the why we celebrate. That… bit by bit painting opens our eyes to see, and that our heart enlarges and fills with wonder, amazement and praise is more an evolution of what painting does to us than what we do to painting.
Painting is a vehicle….it brings you places. It brings things to you.
Like a vehicle, you don’t climb in one for the sake of climbing in one. You do it to get somewhere….
The somewhere in painting is that aesthetic privilege of developing eyes that see. As the eyes see, your mind and spirit are stretched. “A mind stretched can never return to its former dimension.”
I hope such understanding is cause of us to remain encouraged on this journey of learning. Your piece here Lisa, is wonderful evidence of that process for you, and I rejoice for you to be able to experience such. In contrast, I shake my head and am saddened for so so many people whose world is dead to them. Whose heart feels little to rejoice over.
Larry
Larry Seiler- Signature Member IPAP; Signature Member American Impressionist Society AIS
Main website! https://larryseiler-artist.com/
Lisa, As your image file opened it had a good solid composition. Diagonals are a tricky business.
I also reworked your painting and will post it if you want. It just needed that path removed.
An old sign painter taught me there’s never a sign you couldn’t save. It carried over to my paintings. Say, this is the great part, figuring out the problems and solving them.
Renee
Lis, I see you just gave Diane permission so I will post mine as well. It’s a rough, but you get the idea. Looking forward to Diane’s version as well.
Wow, that’s a big improvement, Renee! Food for thought . . .
Wayne, my viewfinder is 2.25 x 3 and it seems to work fine for me (all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding!
)Lisa
My Ebay AuctionsI suppose I could always crop my masonite with a jigsaw– but maybe a handsaw would be better for a finished painting.
I’ve been experimenting with 300 lb watercolor paper since I’m looking for extremely lightweight supports to take hiking in the mountains with me this summer. I’ve got to minimize painting gear weight, because we’ll be backpacking and I’ll have all of my camping gear as well. We really minimize the weight of our gear, so my pack only weighs maybe 10 – 12 lbs for a 3 day trip, but I’ve hiked enough to know that I’ve got to keep it under 20, preferably under 15, if I’m going to have any fun at all. (The absolute best back-packing accessory is a great big guy with a strong back– his pack is heavier than mine, but not over 25 lbs, so it’s nothing to him.) Anyway, I cut the paper into 8 x 10 panels, and gessoed some front & back, & glued canvas to some. Of course, I’ll have to gesso the backs of the ones with canvas– haven’t done that yet. The gesso only ones (2 coats on front, one on back) are very light & quite stiff, & only a little warped. The canvas ones are more warped, but gessoing the back may straighten them out. Once I’ve actually experimented with painting on them, I’ll post a thread to let everyone know how it works out. I’ll also probably experiment with museum board, as I expect it’s stiffer.
Since these panels are thinner than my regular 1/8 masonite, I can store about two days of panels in my pochade box slots. I figure I’ll also get some of that copal medium Larry uses, so maybe after the second day they’ll be dry enough that I can slip them into a ziplock bag, separated with a piece of tracing paper or wax paper or something, and carry them carefully inside the top of my pack.
Lisa
My Ebay Auctions
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