Plein air from last Satruday

[paintfool]

This was done last Saturday, the first really nice day we've had in a while! I had a great time, as always. The reds are not as vibrant in the painting as this photo suggests. The main reason i wanted to do this one is because the colors are much more subdued at this time of year but if you really look you'll find many interesting colors that do not exist in the summer. Fun time for painting! and No DJ it wasn't cold at all! Sooory
Cheryl<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/lib/05-Feb-2001/pleinair.jpg" border=0>


------------------
paintfool

[This message has been edited by paintfool (edited February 05, 2001).]

[paintfool]

Do you think this should be cropped like this. I'd like to spotlight the awsome dead trees i was working with. After the first post i realized that i had supplied a lot of useless info on the right side of the canvas. Opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Cheryl

<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Critiques/lib/05-Feb-2001/Untitled.jpg" border=0>

------------------
paintfool

[Yorky]

Hi Cheryl,

I was just about to comment when I saw your second post. I agree, the dead tree trunks make a more intersting composition. My eye certainly went straight to them. They make an otherwise ordinary hedgerow interesting. A problem I often have painting outdoors is getting the impression of the landscape over. Like when you take a wide angle photo of a landscape and are disappointed when you get the pictures. Your eye naturally focusses in on details in the scene and composes an overall impression which does not often come over in a photo.

I think you did a splendid job making an everyday scene intersting. Incidentally how did you reserve the tree trunks?

Doug

[paintfool]

Thanks for your comments Yorky. I'm not sure about your question as to how i 'reserved' the tree trunks?
Cheryl

------------------
paintfool

[blondheim12]

Love it Cheryl,
It is truely Florida !!!
I like the uncropped version.
Linda

------------------
www.lindablondheim.com

[This message has been edited by blondheim12 (edited February 05, 2001).]

[paintfool]

((Linda)) that means a lot to me!
Thank you!
Cheryl

------------------
paintfool

[llis]

Cheryl!!!!!! I love your latest! As a matter of fact, I love both the full version and the cropped version. I think you should do a series of these. To bad you can't have two originals...one full and one cropped... but if you have this painting reproduced, you could.

Your stokes are sure and clean. I like that!

------------------
Phy...llis Franklin
WetCanvas! MOM
Blackberry Ridge Studio & Art Gallery
Hope to see you in the Cafe Chat Room Or...Find me in the
Community Projects

[LDianeJohnson]

Cheryl,

The first thing I thought of when viewing your first post was to crop. It think the cropping you did is just right, and really brings focus on those wonderfully executed trees. It also has an etherial quality about it.

The only tweaking to suggest is in the foreground. The background draws all the attention, as it should, however, the foreground grasses are ever so slightly flat. If you do a bit more rendering here in such a way as to direct the viewer to the mass of trees behind it, it would strengthen the image even more.

Diane

------------------
L. Diane Johnson NAPA, PSA
Plein Air Workshops

[LarrySeiler]

Curious Cheryl, what kind of day was it. My monitor shows a sense of light sky blue, so was the sun out, partially sunny?

The values are so evenly placed around the painting it gives me more the impression of the kind of light that bounces around on an overcast day.

If the sun was out...I would then suggest beefing up the contrasts. Also...since leaves are more sparse this time of year, you might want to poke more sky thru the edges of your foilage to give that illusion.

My first impression was to crop, and it does bring more dynamics into it. Fun just gettin' out! Attack that cabin fever head on!

Larry

------------------
"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do!" Edgar Degas

[This message has been edited by lseiler (edited February 05, 2001).]

[arlene]

Crop it. Makes it more exciting


------------------
http://www.artdebut.com/arlene.htm

[paintfool]

Thanks guys for your comments. They're very important to me! Yorky, yes, i'm sorry i should have stated that this is oil. Larry, it was a partially sunny day. I can see what your saying about the contrasts. I think i should have also deepened the underpainting. This actaully is a very densely wooded area. We do lose the leaves on certain trees here in the winter but these are live oaks and stay full. I think that the skyholes would give more interest though. Rather than beef this one up, since this location is right down the road from me i think i may go back soon & redo the same scene using those suggestions as well as Dianes suggestion to put more into the foreground grasses. They are a bit more defined than this photo shows though. I took the photo indoors with a flash. I know that's a no no but i really just wanted to use the last of a roll of film.
Thanks ((LLis and Arlene)) i'm so glad to be able to share here! I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to discuss this with people who actually know what i'm trying to do! It's so funny to me that passersby will stop & ooh & ahh over such an average scene as this one ! lol.
Oh and Yorky, what to do with the wet painting? Drive carefull on the way home But we need to go into ideas for transporting a wet painting.
Thanks again guys
Cheryl

------------------
paintfool

[LarrySeiler]

It's so funny to me that passersby will stop & ooh & ahh over such an average scene as this one !

Ah...but that is the magic of our craft, and the alure of our service provided. To take the mundane and cause eyes and the spirit that has slipped into the routine, the rote, and finally the rot....to come alive and see what they could see if only they looked again with aesthetic vision. To learn to appreciate beauty, existing in the ordinary is a great gift to give to others. It sparks a thankful heart. It puts a skip in the step.


Looking forward Cheryl to see what your next piece will look like.

Larry http://www.artsmentor.org


------------------
"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do!" Edgar Degas

[Yorky]

Cheryl!

How silly of me, I am so focussed in on Watercolours that I was thinking how difficult it would be to paint around thee tree trunks. I assume from what you say that it is in oils (it is isn't it?). The thought of lugging oil painting equipment outdoors horrifies me, and what do you do with the wet painting?
You'll gather from this that I don't do oils!

Doug

[taghera]

Cheryl, these are excellent, I like the cropped one the best as there seems to be more interest to it.

------------------
If we were all geniuses we wouldn't need each other----------would we?

[BevL]

I really like this!
I like both the cropped version and the original, but I can see how much more impact the cropped one has. What lovely colours!
I'd hang this on my wall in a New York minute!

Bev