Ochre Mountain

[yellow_oxide]

MY IMAGE(S):



Detail of lower left. Scratches used to define rock shapes.

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: Ochre Mountain
Year Created: 2012
Medium: Oil
Surface: Board
Dimension: 8"x10"
Allow digital alterations?: Yes

MY COMMENTS:
My first finished oil painting in a couple of years. 3 paints used - M Graham Raw Sienna and Charvin Indian Yellow Deep and Naples Yellow Golden. I used a Chinese landscape painting as a basic reference. I thought about adding small signs of humans, since a lot of Chinese landscapes have tiny little people, buildings, bridges, etc, if you look close enough, but I normally never include anything human in landscapes.

MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
I like the roughness, but is it too rough to look finished? I normally don't use heavily earth palettes, so is it too monochromatic? Does it need signs of humans or something else to add interest?

[La_]

the smaller, reddish mountain on the right tries to look like a woman in a red dress ... perhaps not so much in real life

it's all quite abstracted, i see many things in it, but cannot decide if it's heavenly or sexy ... could be either, depending on my mood

i like monochromes and don't think it's too much so

adding tiny people would ruin it i think

la

[darkwolf29]

The only thing I think I might consider is adding some darker low lights. It still feels a bit flat to me. But, I would not add humans, animals, etc to it. I love where it is now and where it could go. Great work. I need to go back and start with monochrome work again...so much fun to play with.

[tgsloth]

I find this original and totally cool. Suggest though that you knock out the red tones on the hill in center left. It's not an appropriate COI and the red pulls the viewer's attention.

[birdhs]

I feel the red mountain is just exactly enuf to keep it from being boring. and it holds up to the infamous "squint test"

I suspect IRL this is even more striking than a photo on a computer screen. I find it full of light and life, and NO, do not muck it up with humanoids.

I really like this!

[greensyster]

I really like it also. Softly sensuous without hitting one in the face. Very hard to pull off such a narrow tone band but you did! As to the wistful long blonde locked damsel dreaming .... Yes she is all totally technically wrong BUT she works in this piece perfectly.

[yellow_oxide]

Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions guys. I still don't see a woman in this but oh well.

[laf.art]

This is a gorgeous piece - and yes I can see the woman

[AllanFink1960]

You did great. You are off to a good start. I am not sure you are finished yet, but no, you don't need to add people or animals.

I do think you need a center of interest that YOU put in intentionally. The red mountain shape became that, whether you wanted it to or not, from what I am reading in people's comments. But think it over and come up with something. It could be a patch of light on a cliff face, or a bright spot on a cloud, or a mountain top poking up thru the mist.

A center of interest draws your eye in. It could be a place that has more texture than other places on your canvas. Or more contrast, or a brighter color, or lighter value, or more detail.

I also think you need to think about what is in your fore-ground, middle-ground and back-ground.

About adding people or animals...

I had an instructor that often said "Painting is NEVER about how much you love your puppy, even when you are painting a puppy. A painting is ALWAYS really about what artists care about; drawing, perspective, rendering in light and shade, creating the illusion of space and depth, texture, color and color theory, design, composition, balance, harmony, unity, rhythm, contrast etc.." That is how non objective modern abstract art came about. You can leave recognizable objects out of the painting altogether.

So okay, you have a painting of a mountain in the clouds, but maybe your painting isn't REALLY about the mountain. Maybe it is about the LIGHT on the mountain, or how mist makes things get more gray as they go back into the distance, or the form of the triangle the mountain creates, or the texture of misty fluffy clouds, or the colors of the clouds in the mist at sunset, or sunrise. Or about how orange and yellow get darker as they come forward in space.

People schmeeple. We don't need no stinkin people.