More challenge than I expected tonight! I’ve always struggled with “laying the land” with a fan brush and tonight was no exception.
I liked my colors, but this all came out a bit “flat” tonight, the background trees and bushes maybe got just a bit too much “pop,” so the foreground ones didn’t stand out as well.
I ran out of space in my pretty (though not as pretty as I hoped) sky with all the leaves and branches! I was concerned about using too much paint on the under layer of the sky and it came out a bit more subdued than I hoped.
Hated the 5 second “little sticks” in the foreground, but kept goofing off and kinda taught myself how to paint an old downed hedge tree as are commonly seen here in Kansas. Then there was a blank area on the other side so I decided to paint another one! Why not I guess…and I kinda do like my water too!
Feel like the lower left foreground needed just a bit more but couldn’t come up with anything.
Overall a fun one that wasn’t as good as I hoped but great practice on the fan, round, and script liner brushes.
Comments
Thank you for this feedback and encouragement Linzee! After so many “not quite bright enough” bushes, I may have finally reached a point where toning it down “just a touch” has its place.
An additional word on the bark: I love doing the bark, thank you! The mix came out a bit more red than I’ve ever tried this time, but it just looked so lovely marbled on the palette, I gave it a shot anyway. Probably a touch too red, but still fun.
Every painting is growth and we learn something each time. We are our own worst critic and often the things we point out we don’t like others do. This painting jumped out at me when I went thru recent additions. I really like the trees on the left side they almost remind me of a bit of watercolor type of feel. I’m partial to birch trees myself. Good job with the bark. Snow looks good too.
Thank you so much! Wide open “swoopy” areas of snow/water with the fan brush have always been a challenge for me so I really appreciate that. It got a bit better on this one, and the beauty of this hobby is that it’s truly a lifetime process of committing to small improvements…and as I tell my kids, when we struggle at something, it gives us a direction to know what to work on!
When I look at the left side, it seems a bit cluttered to me, but I really appreciate that. We truly are our own toughest critics. Maybe I’m just sad because my happiest distant tree was over there!
As I’ve “lived” with this one more and more, I think I would have loved to paint a nice dilapidated barbed wire fence in the left side with some thick, crooked, gnarly hedge wood posts. I suppose I need to fire up the “workshop” DVD to practice something like that so I am confident enough to give it a go next time. Even just finding the “vision” occasionally to know how I would try to make it my own is a creative step forward.
Thank you again. I so love this site and the feedback I get here!
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The bark on the trees is quite excellent. It doesn't look as flat as you describe - at least on the left side. Yes, maybe the bushes on the right side should have less highlight on them to make them blend into the distance a bit, but the sky has a glow and the title of the piece is Golden Glow so the bushes should have some sort of "glow" to them. Great work!