Last weekend, when I wasn't laying around because I had no energy, I worked on the Jardin des Plantes painting. I was not happy with the outcome as it was just feeling too dark. Plants on a sunny day, even in October, should not feel dark. Yesterday (Friday), I worked on it again. There is a major silouette in this picture, so there is some dark, but the overall painting should feel light. I am happier with it now.
Saturday I worked on another painting from the "homework" assignment from September's Saturday class with Kevin Weckbach. That assignment was to do a value (grayscale, limited to 3 to 5 values) underpainting, bring it in for critic and then paint over it, keeping to the values while you added color. I enjoyed this exercise so much that I did three value underpaintings. The first one I added color to was not a success. This assignment is harder than it sounds. The Jardin des Plantes was the second of the three that I did, and as you can see, it was another struggle. This third painting is going better, but I think the value painting was better, too. funny how that works...I still have all the plant life in the pond to put in (dead though it may be), the willows are incomplete, all the weeds that added texture to the underpainting, the barn roof is too light in value and the sky seems too yellow to me. My project for today.
2 comments:
Not being an artist myself, I don't begin to comprehend the creative process (not to mention the underlying training, time and effort) that's behind the face of each of your paintings. However, what strikes me as I look at your latest work is the range of your subject matter. Rather than limit yourself, you continually seek to expand your painting horizons. Seems an apt metaphor for life, n'est-ce pas?
The updated Jardin des Plantes painting is quite beautiful.
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