Essentials of Buildings HOMEWORK Week 2

[sherrysherman]

Homework for this week is to post a photo you want to paint and tell what you plan to change when you paint it. If you want, you can use a photo editing app to show the changes you plan to make.

[Darlene Livingston]

[IMG] This was for last week but it didn't post. A sketch started last year. I see the sky hole problems. Its also flat. Any crit is appreciated.

[gardenart]

Here is my photo of a lovely old house that has been let fall into disrepair. I bet it was a real showplace in its day.



I would leave out the gutter completely and maybe give a little more roughness to the tin roof and unhinge a shutter upper left. Also would trim the vine back a little to show a window on the upper right but would leave most of the front one partially covered. Time has made it easy with the melodic lines in most places.

The main thing I would do is move the house into the country and lose the cemetery and wrought iron fence. There would be a more appropriate fence for the country, possibly as a lead in. I am thinking strong light on the front.
I wish I could have got a better shot but it was right on a street in town and I didn't feel like getting run over that day, maybe next time I go there. Any other suggestions or traps please let me know before i get started.

Thanks, Sue

[Johannes Instructor]

Originally Posted by gardenart

Here is my photo of a lovely old house that has been let fall into disrepair. I bet it was a real showplace in its day.




I would leave out the gutter completely and maybe give a little more roughness to the tin roof and unhinge a shutter upper left. Also would trim the vine back a little to show a window on the upper right but would leave most of the front one partially covered. Time has made it easy with the melodic lines in most places.

The main thing I would do is move the house into the country and lose the cemetery and wrought iron fence. There would be a more appropriate fence for the country, possibly as a lead in. I am thinking strong light on the front.
I wish I could have got a better shot but it was right on a street in town and I didn't feel like getting run over that day, maybe next time I go there. Any other suggestions or traps please let me know before i get started.

Thanks, Sue

Actually just the way it is a showcase right now. The building itself is a strong reference subject. Just add an interesing foreground and you are in business. Also add flowers to the vine. Go for it!

[BumpaBob]

Hi Jo:
Here are two photos of a church in PA one of my ancestors helped to found back in 1800, so it is important to me. But I am not sure about how much poetic license I should employ. I do have several shots from different angles, mostly for details, but these are the most dramatic shots:


The first shot highlights the building more, while the 2nd one has more of the hill than I think is needed. To get more of a poetic line, on the roof and elsewhere, I might have to "mess up" the building a little. Or maybe make the scene a winter one, but that would be a lot of white....or blue and other colors. I'd like to submit another for consideration. bob.c

[BumpaBob]

Here is another pair of photos, again from PA in my ancestral stomping ground, of the first home owned in my family, from 1810:

Here I would use the angle from the first photo: keep the fence and driveway, but make it dirt, and move back the tree branch to reveal the side of the house; then take out the car and any other modern items (car, wires, fan in the window). I could put a black buggy in the driveway... The tin roof and stone front of the house can be accentuated. The stone looked like limestone, not New England granite, so it is a bit more subtle in color. There isn't much perspective angle in the photos, as I was a bit reluctant to go up to the house; rumor was that the current residents aren't too happy about all these Coleman's wandering around! These pictures provide more painting interest, I think. bob.c

[Amandine]

Maybe, I'd go with this photo. I would have to change the color of the chimney which is almost the same as the wall against which it stands. And the roof too is grey, another color to change ... For the moment, I haven't decided which colors I would pick-up. I'd probably add some little flowers at the bottom of the left wall and move everything further back. I find that the building is too close to the viewer. (Hope you understand, I'm not sure this is good english.)

There's another building that might be interesting. In that case, I would change the color of the tractor - same color as the barn -. And, of course, I would modify the fence. Also, as you mentioned, it's better to have the sunny side in front of the painting, not on the side, so something elso to change.

Lot of work. I'm not yet decided. Any comment is welcome and will help me.

Thanks.

P.S. : Sherry Sherman would probably suggest that I do both. (She loves to joke.) Well, maybe in 1½ year, after I retire and have more time to paint.

[pixiecat]

Here's the building I'd like to paint. I do not have the software to "change" the picture, but I'd like to comment on it.

First, the building is simply ugly when viewed from the 3/4 angle--but it is a historic building and I'd like to maintain the character as much as possible, but make it fun, too. The medium I'll be doing this in is watercolor. Changes I'd like to make are:

1.Get rid of all the concrete at the base of the stairs. Make a sidewalk with uneven edges to it.
2. I'd take the tree on the left and make it taller to break up the strong horizontal roof lines on the porch.
3. I'd really like to change out some of the plants around the house for some taller ones, like foxglove and taller bushes that are flowering to break up the strong horizontals of the porch. But I don't want to make this the focal point.
4. I'd really like to make the focal point the front door. I will make the door a dark color like muted red.
5. I would change the shadows for a different time of day, when the sunlight was directly overhead. I am going to take this picture, and make a black and white photocopy of it to help with the darkest darks and lightest lights. On the bay window (particularly on the second floor), I would like to leave it white, and omit the edge for the trim directly under the second story bay windows. I's also like to fade out the bottom of the second story window so you can't see the bottom edges of the windows (lost edges). And on the railings, I'd like to make them pure white to play up the contrast with the front door.
6. I am thinking about making the sky a light purple instead of blue.

Any comments you have are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[painterted]

Wow, some great subjects here to paint.

Anyone else have problems with the vidio of Johannes painting today? My mac was like it was hooked up to the old phone line... rreeeellllyyy slow. Pidifull .

ted

[Tarlo]

Thanks Johannes for another great lesson and all your help.


As well as the suggested above, there would be less foreground.
The building is a replicia of an old miners hut in sunny Queensland, Australia

Judy

[painterted]

I have never painted a subject like this but this is what I plan on doing as of now.

Remove that round piece of cement on the right in the foreground. Either put in a water fountain or a flower garden.
Open the right door.
Add flowers to the plant to the right of the door.
Remove the pink wall and deck, and install a nice oak type tree.
Remove that bush on the left.
Use cobble stones in the drive way.
Rotate the building to get more of a 3/4 view.

This is going to be fun, can't wait to get started. Thanks for all the nuggets today Johannes.

Oh, and put a satellite dish on the roof.

ted

[valh]

This photo taken somewhere in central Alberta. Changes I would make are:

-move the house to the left taking it off centre
-move the house back into the trees, create more foreground
-create a lead in
-add perhaps 2 more layers of trees behind the house
-exaggerate the opening 'tween the evergreen trees on the right side
-create melodic lines on the roof lines
-lighten the shadows under the porch roof

Anything else?

[marionh]

St Paul, Alpes Maritime France

I would leave things pretty much as they are but
- I would add some sunshine and shadows
- Make the fountain a little more melodic and change the colour as a contrast to the house wall
- Go back and take another photo to include more of the upper storey of the house.

[jillmc3]

Thanks, Johannes, for another great class! I have learned so much from you, and I really appreciate your willingness to share your "golden nuggets!" I also really appreciate the time you put in to critiquing our work and providing feedback.

It was hard to choose a building for this homework, I see so many possibilities now! Before this class I would not have selected this photo as a reference, but now I think maybe it would make a nice painting and memory of an anniversary trip. For this picture of a B&B cottage in Fredericksburg, Texas, I would:

1. move the structure back into the painting off-center to allow for a melodic lead-in path and some landscape planes on the sides, and rotate it to show a bit more of the side.
2. Remove the second building
3. gradient planes on the roof and sides, sag the roof a little bit
4. add flowers in front of the porch, and up the right side a little
5. represent some of the stones on the front, more on the right side, gradate the color value darker on the right
6. remove most of the shadow on the front, and move it to the side - add reflected colors on the front and side, remove almost all the slats on the side
7. remove the gutter and make the roof edge more melodic, broken
8. I think I would keep the windmill and the rocking chairs, because they remind me of Fredericksburg.
8. show a few of the tin roof ribs, more on the right, add some colors and rust

[marionh]

I've just been looking at the pic again, and have decided that I would move the fountain to give more breating space.