I squeezed in some painting time during my recent spring break family vacation. I accomplish this by waking up before the chickens crow so my family won't even miss me. I was in such a hurry to get painting that the car windows where still fogged up as I drove away. We spent the night in Fredericksburg Texas and it is so picturesque I didn't have to go far to find a subject.
I am drawn to weathered buildings and it is always a bonus when they are bright red. I started painting without setting up my umbrella and as the early morning sun blasted out I found it hard to judge my values. Once you're into your work and covered in paint you never want to stop long enough to make some shade. I seem to always situate myself in the open. The photo shows how shadowed everything was at the beginning of my painting. Compare it to the photo with my palette and you get an example of how much the light changes from beginning to the end. As a painter you have to pick a moment in time and stick with it as the shadows and light change around you. I like parts of this painting a lot but feel the foreground shadow & fence line could have been executed better. I try real hard not to paint on my plein air paintings after they are dry so I'm not sure if I should rework the foreground.
What do you think?
I think you have done an outstanding work..:) I like your paintings..BTW I have started a new blog dedicated to my sketch work — Art on Sketchbook
ReplyDeletewelcome to blogworld : )
ReplyDeleteLove the painting!!
Judy
Really good start to your blog, Randy. It's great you've posted pics of your setup, reference information and the final painting! (Coincidentally, I'm going to post a painting of a red building tomorrow, too!).
ReplyDeleteBTW, I think the foreground fence is painting fine, it's loose, and it shouldn't be too well defined because it's not the center of interest. I always try to leave outlaying areas less defined so you can draw the viewer in to the most important parts.
I agree about the shadow, however. Color-wise, it feels disconnected from the rest of the painting. I think the issue is it's missing the local color of the dead grass in light. The color makes it seem as if it's a completely different type of object, like a body of water, or deep hole. It's needs some of the warmer tones of the grass. It's also too dark. Just my 2 cents!
Megha, my first comment was all the way from India. The Internet is amazing. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteJudy thank you for the support and the following!
Spot on Ed! I appreciate the comments and you taking the time to visit. I will repaint the shadow and repost at a later date for comparisons. Now I'm off to see your red building. :?)