ESP--September 2004--FOREGROUNDS - Page 5

MollyUnlimited · #61 09-12-2004, 09:38 AM

Wow! This thread has been SO useful and helpful! I never even THOUGHT about foregrounds before. Since I paint (simple - no props) portraits exclusively at this point, I just never gave it much thought. So this week I was inspired to try a portrait with a foreground and this is what I came up with (also in another thread):

Thanks SO much Dee for all your hard work on this!!!! You are the best!

Marge Cline · #62 09-12-2004, 11:34 AM

I'm not sure if this painting qualifies as working on a foreground, but have never done a pooch before and want to learn how to "make fur". After I took this picture I thought my son's hair and jeans sort of looked like his dog's fur and so I will make all three focal points.

am trying to decide how much, if anything, of what else shows up on on the ground to include in the foreground. suggestions/comments welcome. marge

Deborah Secor · #63 09-12-2004, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MollyUnlimited

Wow! This thread has been SO useful and helpful! I never even THOUGHT about foregrounds before. Since I paint (simple - no props) portraits exclusively at this point, I just never gave it much thought. So this week I was inspired to try a portrait with a foreground and this is what I came up with (also in another thread)

Thanks SO much Dee for all your hard work on this!!!! You are the best!

Molly, since I don't do portraits I never thought about them as having a foreground--but, in fact, this one does. I guess you'll have to talk to the portrait pros to get more advice, but this looks quite good to me!

Oh, and you're more than welcome. I enjoy teaching so much.

Deborah

Deborah Secor · #64 09-12-2004, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marge Cline

I'm not sure if this painting qualifies as working on a foreground, but have never done a pooch before and want to learn how to "make fur". After I took this picture I thought my son's hair and jeans sort of looked like his dog's fur and so I will make all three focal points.

am trying to decide how much, if anything, of what else shows up on on the ground to include in the foreground. suggestions/comments welcome. marge

Love the raggedy twosome here, Marge! You're right, they go together.

Since you haven't gotten too far into this one in terms of the foreground it's a little hard to see where you plan to go. One slightly distracting thing for me is the bright blue you've used so far. To me it suggests the sky, which makes me feel as if I'm looking UP at them, but then the angles read as odd. If you include a horizon line (the bottom of the garage door in the photo) you'll ground the whole thing more. A change of value will help too, although I don't think you have to describe every detail you see there. The blue is pretty dazzling--often if you reserve the more saturated colors for the subject you have more success in pulling it to the fore.

One other small thing. In the photo his shoe is not white. It actually almost matches his jeans for value. Be careful not to let it stay too light or it will direct the eye out of the picture.

Show us where you go with this one--and maybe we can give some advice on fur, too! I really like where you're heading...

And by the way, gang--I'm not the only one who can give an opinion about ANY of these paintings, so join in with your thoughts and observations any time...

Deborah

Marge Cline · #65 09-12-2004, 11:09 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I like bright colors, but now see the sense in toning them down in the background. Angel's fur is fun AND challenging! Not happy with the driveway yet, but I'll keep playing around with it. Marge

Deborah Secor · #66 09-14-2004, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marge Cline

Thanks for the suggestions. I like bright colors, but now see the sense in toning them down in the background. Angel's fur is fun AND challenging! Not happy with the driveway yet, but I'll keep playing around with it. Marge

Marge, this is really coming along nicely...

It helped to tone down that shoe, and the windblown furry look is developing on the dog. One thing, don't let the edge of the paper make you feel like you have to squeeze the dog in at the bottom. Let her go off the page--it can still read right.

I know that these furry beasts can look big with all that hair. The challenge is to show the structure of the body under it all, which is not easy! Take a look at Heather Laws' (lawsportraits) or Debra Jones' (dj*) dogs. They are both great at painting dogs!

As for the driveway, I think part of the problem is that you've made a big jump from the light of the garage door to the dark of the pavement. I suspect if you sightly darken the door and lighten the pavement, it might work somewhat better.

I really like what you're doing here, so keep going.

Deborah

Marge Cline · #67 09-14-2004, 11:05 PM

Angel has so much fur, it's impossible to see her "structure" underneath it all.

I am not happy with the driveway yet. Think I should have put it all in before finishing up the dog hair on the edges. Will have to work more on that.

EdK · #68 09-14-2004, 11:35 PM

I changed the fence posts to point toward the house. I also changed the tree line in the upper right, eliminating some and adding others as suggested to redirect the eye back to the house. Great suggestions and I can see a difference. Debating on whether to mess with it some more or leave it as is.

lawsportraits · #69 09-15-2004, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marge Cline

Angel has so much fur, it's impossible to see her "structure" underneath it all.

I am not happy with the driveway yet. Think I should have put it all in before finishing up the dog hair on the edges. Will have to work more on that.

Hi Marge,

I think I may be able to help a little with your beast. I do see one thing that may be helpful for you. The original photo shows some delicious contrast between lights and darks on your hound. The value contrasts are very distinct, especially in the face and chest. I think if you play up those contrasts you will see things come together a bit more, the underlying structure will become more apparent.

I find one thing that always works for me is a value study before I begin to paint. This way I can better understand and make sense of the relationship between vales, how they work together to emphasize three dimensional form.

Heather

Marge Cline · #70 09-15-2004, 11:00 PM

PLayed with the beast a bit more. Think I'll call this one finished and take the lessons learned on to the next one. Thanks for all the c & c. Marge

Deborah Secor · #71 09-17-2004, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdK

I changed the fence posts to point toward the house. I also changed the tree line in the upper right, eliminating some and adding others as suggested to redirect the eye back to the house. Great suggestions and I can see a difference. Debating on whether to mess with it some more or leave it as is.

Hi Ed. I've been remiss and not come in to comment soon enough

--so you may have made more decisions on this one, but I love what you've done here! All of the shapes have been changed to direct my eye to the house. VERY nice! I'd just sign it, if it was my painting...

Deborah

Deborah Secor · #72 09-17-2004, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marge Cline

PLayed with the beast a bit more. Think I'll call this one finished and take the lessons learned on to the next one. Thanks for all the c & c. Marge

Marge, I think your final painting is a real success. These two seem to go together, and overall the spirit of the painting is carefree, breezy. YOu seem to have caught the same expression on their two faces (in a positive way!) which I saw in your original photo. I think you should count this one a success!

Deborah

Deborah Secor · #73 09-19-2004, 10:53 PM

Anyone else have any foreground paintings to share? I'd love to see those you think are successful, and have you share why you think they worked so well. We started out that way but it sorta turned into a workshop instead. That's fine too, of course, but it would be fun to see more work!

Anybody???

Meanwhile, how's this for a foreground painting??? An Templeton, Spaces In Harmony:

Do you think it works? Why or why not??? (I think this one might be an oil--she works in both media. It could as easily have been done in pastel, though, so we'll look at it anyway--okay?)

Deborah

chewie · #74 09-21-2004, 09:37 PM

here's what i just posted in another thread, but it fits well in this foreground discussion. in the photo i took, there were only very short, just coming-up spring grasses, with plenty of plain ol dirt. i wanted the pond after an idea i seen in the RIL, but somehow that one didn't work for me. this is such a great thing of you deb, thanks for your efforts!

Deborah Secor · #75 09-22-2004, 04:43 PM

Hey chewie, this is a really neat painting! Yep, it's a foreground painting, all right!!

You've done a beautiful job of the reflection, which could have been too distracting. Very nice! I like the way you drew the eye to the horse with the large dark tree behind him and the way you used the rocks and reflections, and the other big tree (perfect values, all of these!) over on the other side to stop the eye from going off the page. Good example--thanks for sharing it!

Deborah

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