Here is the start.
SandiasOil Painting, 8 x 10 on canvas panel
I have a few adjustments to make. I did a reddish and purple under painting with thinned oil paint. I should have used acrylic paint for that so it would be dry, but I didn't think about it. Anyway, the sky is a little dirty in color from picking up the under painting, more than it shows here. I think the paint is set enough so that I can clean it up today. I also want to break up the horizontal line of the bushes in front of the house, even though it is really there. That will help the compositional questions.
This composition is difficult. Something you are always told is to not have the horizon line in the middle. This painting has several horizontal lines that are not necessarily the horizon or eye level, but still divide the painting. The most obvious to me was the bottom of the trees, so I put it lower than the middle. This makes the tops of the trees about the middle. If I pull it down then that leaves a small amount of foreground and the sky would be the most important part. If I push it up it makes the foreground too much.
I'm hoping that in a large painting the length of the painting will help minimize this effect. If I change these lines too much, then it is no longer the place I want to portray. I think in the larger painting I will have it be a little later in the day so that the mountains look a little more purple than blue to contrast with the complement, yellow.
Sometimes the painting takes over and comes out different than the plan entirely. We shall see......
And a blog for today, hmmmm. How about Katherine Tyrrell, Making a Mark. Her blog, sketches, pastels, colored pencils and information go way beyond what I can keep up with. I'm not sure how she researches and shares so much information and still draws and paints. Whew. I discovered her sketching blogs and from there went on to explore all her blogs and Squidoos. She writes about art happenings, her travels and sketching and research. She has a Squidoo for colored pencil and one for pastel. There is so much to learn on her site. She is my art encyclopedia covering business, blogging, sketching, and so much more.
Most of you already know about her. Her blogs are some of the most popular art sites around. If you haven't been by her blog in a while, go check things out. She does a weekly post, "Who's Made a Mark This Week", and the current one is a review for the year she has been doing that. Get a cup of coffee, you will be there a while.
6 comments:
This is looking great, Jo - super work on the mountains! I don't see much more you need to do. And rules aren't iron-clad, are they?
Great suggestion on Making a Mark - she is amazing!
Thanks, Regina. I opened up the bushes as I mentioned and cleaned up the sky color, adjusted the mountains a little to look more like the real Sandia mountains. I will post tomorrow.
I think we had talked about the Pastels Squidoo that Katherine does. I don't know how she has time for all that. She is evidently organized.
I like your Sandias. Maybe with the tree line being un-even, it will take away from dividing the painting in half. I like the foreground too well to lose any of it.
Bag Blog, thank you. I did work on it and slightly changed the foreground and cleaned up the sky. I will post is shortly. :)
Thanks for the mention Jo - and I'm only sorry I haven't been along sooner to say thanks!
I have a secret - I'm not very organised, I just don't like housework and can live with a bit of a mess! My computer however - like my information is extraordinarily tidy with everything in the right place! :)
Finally, having had a go at doing a simuilar view can I say how much I sympathise with the compositional difficulties. I had exactly the same issue when drawing the Sandia Monutains and resolved it in the end by doing two 'portrait' format drawings which had lots of sky involved as well.
You've done a good job on the colours of the earth and the mountains and I can see why you'd want to change the sky. I think mine was pink and apricot!
Katherine, thanks for stopping by. You have great insight. The portrait layout is a great idea, I will try one of those. Using an evening sky or morning would be good. The mountains look more purple or pink then as well. We are in Albuquerque for a couple of days. We will stay here for a month soon, so will try a plein air of the Sandias then. :) Thanks again.
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