There are two paintings from Bob that I consider to be the ultimate challenge for a painter of my caliber. One of them is 'Indian summer'. This creation has been prepared already months ago and for a long time, I never really felt up to it to give it a try.
Yesterday however, I foresaw 4 hours of painting time, just to be certain, and had a go.
Canvas used was a budget 16"x20". Easiest part where the background trees and the huge trees highlights. Toughest was to keep a good variety of colors at all times.
Unfortunately I failed with both central trees. My background wasn't dark enough and I somehow completely misjudged the shape of those tree leaves. Also the central small dead tree was a mishap, I should have left it out.
Total painting time was 2 hours and 20 minutes, really at ease.
Maybe soon, I will redo those central trees, after I have found a solution to solve the problem there. Any positive suggestions will be warmly welcomed!!
Sunnylady already commented offline and provided me with one good solution.
Comments
Hahaha! TLP, several great people here at Twoinchbrush are my favourites and loved ones!
No worries, you're in there too!!! 😋🥰😉
Wil have to check your info, hope to achieve as much options as possible!
Some love triangle/or love octagon here. Ahahaha. You guys are amazing! Love you both! @TLP We talk in Skype quite a lot. You can find me there too. Under my nickname from here with a photo of orange kitten. I will be happy to have more friends in there!
Looks like a spot I camped out in as a younster.Great scene V!Love the earthy woodsy pigments.Cheers, P.
Bob's love and ours around here is the greatest Sunnylady!
So happy you love this Pietro!
I never ever camped in my life .... am I missing something?! 😢
I love the big tree on the left and the background trees. With the big center trees.... Maybe you can first add some dark paint and then do the highlights again? 🤔
And it's never too late to start camping 😉
I have some comments about your painting Voy, but first I must comment about the comments because they had me laughing, and dropping my jaw in surprise. You have never been camping????? Oh my, you are missing out my friend. Absolutely one of my most favorite activities is camping. I will share some stories with you soon there! The love triangle, no I believe Sunnylady called it an octagon, literally had me laughing out loud, and gaining some strange looks from coworkers down the hall!
As far as your painting, let me say I love the dead tree. I know you mentioned it as a pain point for you, but its got lots of depth to it, I can "feel" the layers of bark. I love the big hole in the middle of it. I like your very distant sky in the background and the very small and slender tree branches peeking out. The foreground foliage looks great. The two trees do look very similar in shape and color, and seem like maybe a little mud mixing did happen. My suggestion would be to get some underpainting done to add some shape differences in the trees, allow it to dry, and then come back and do some details in trees. You know I have recently found success in this suggestion (thank you Sunnylady), and I think it might work for you here too. I think everything else about this painting is a success, and if you can get those two trees how you like them you will be quite happy!
This is fantastic and so eye catching right away. Your colour choices and foliage are absolutely beautiful. I agree with doggymommee8301 how to fix up those 2 trees...i too just love all the bark detail.
I'm just a beginner so I'm not sure if my suggestions will even work. I find that sometimes my paint colors just muddled together making either a mess or they just don't stand out enough. I find it helps to start with an under painting of a really dark colour (I even add a little black to it). Then I either let it dry so my top colours don't get mixed or I add a little paint thinner to whatever I load onto my brush. It helps the colours to "stick" a little more and not get muddled. Personally though, I think those central trees were done well. Sometimes a step back and some time to dwell on it will help to come up with a little tweak that makes all the difference. 😁 Well done on the background and that far left tree!
I too have never been camping :O
At least in central Europe you are not allowed to just pack your tent and head into the woods. You have to go to special "camping places", which often are fenced in. Very much destroys the adventure component of my camping fantasies. I envy the Scandinavians who can just go wherever and put up a tent!
I can see your struggle with the two central trees, but besides that this is a fantastic painting! I really enjoy the large tree/bush on the right. Great job with the highlights!
What's the other ultimate challenge painting?
Dear Umagaan,
Yes, I am really comfortable with bigger trees these days and love highlighting those big barks. The background trees, as you already knew, I mastered some months ago. I started doing them with an oval brush but immediately switched to my much more comfortable one inch brush!
What you suggest is indeed what about all people more or less suggested. So I will redo the back of the trees/foliage again and then add a stronger highlight to make a better distinction with the background trees.
Thanks for also helping me out, and till next one!
Dear Doggymommee,
Yes, I never camped before but my little stupid mixed-up sick country is rather dense populated and builded upon. Few spaces around for camping or it has to be my backyard!
The octagon .... think octopus and you know why Sunnylady chose that word! Oh my, if she reads this, she will get inspiration for another dazzling sea creation!!!
Concerning the painting, you are correct in all fields. The whole thing is in fact one of my better creations but became a dragon with the center trees. You mentioned 'mud mixing and it is 100% true. I was unhappy with the first colour and kept on dashing more paint in, with devastating results!
'Put differences in the trees' ... Sunnylady also brought something like that up in achat so might take that suggestion on as well!
Thanks dear, it will indeed be worth it to pimp this painting since it really is one of the two ultimate challenges for me and I truly want to see it shine!
Thanks for helping me out baby, you are such loyal friend!
Thank you LJM, I simply adore your adoration and kudos! With the help of all my loving paint colleagues, I hope to turn this dragon into a beautiful princess soon! 😋😊
Right on the dot Linzeepaints, I also was thinking of adding some black to my underopaint iso browns only! Good suggestion!
Thank you for your cheers on the rest of the painting, till next one!
Oh man!!!You have to try it.I remember one of my first treks into the mountains.We set up camp right on the snow.Leader of the group was around 70 years old.A very tough man and great mentor.Unfortunately for me,I had a light summer sleeping bag and an old army blanket..Froze my but off! He He...Next day we ventured up the mountain in waist deep snow.What a blast it was to finally reach the summit.only took all day!lol..Great experience when your 13 years old!IOne of the most memorable ones.By the way,I ran to the nearest outdoor stores and purchased a down sleeping bag..I was sweating there after.Peace Bro.
Glad I am not alone Felix!
It is indeed true that Europe has quite some restrictions concerning camping, one country allows far less then the other!.
Thanks for your cheers about the painting in general and specially the big trees, they were challenging but surprisinlgy, they were quite easy to do!
I replied offline to you on the 'ultimate challenge painting' question, not ready to share that publically yet!
Pietro, your stories are like you paintings, always interesting and adventurous!
It's just Belgium you know, we are not a great nor interesting camping country. But I am very happy you have that experience, just like Doggymommee!
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I noticed other people's trees (the two in the middle) taking on the same shape. I've done the same myself at times. It think branches often take on a fan brush shape. I zoomed in on bob's original (I can't play the video so I'm just guessing) it looks like he's done tiny horizontal tapping motions with the corner of the brush starting at the centre working downward and outward at the same time. He paints so fast at times I think we miss these tricks which make all the difference. Are you having secret liaison with sunnylady? You said I was the only one!