This has been a rural Austrian Landscape I painted last year. At the end I havenāt been focused 100% and this is fatal if you work with watercolors. I wanted to create some shadows of trees in the foreground and was careless as I took too much water on the brush. So the shadows turned into a a color blop instead of nice tree shapes.
Even I know there arenāt a lot of watercolor painters I would like to hear your opinion. Does the shadows ruin the picture or are they ok.
I think about removing the pigments of the shadows and recreate the foreground again. But this is some work and Iām not sure if it is worth it.
What do others think? Just tell me if the shadows in the foreground disturb you. Thanks!
Thanks a lot Sandy :)
Very nice painting Tom! I do see the area you are referring to but it does not disturb me greatly. I actually feel like if you were to darken the shadow in strategic places it might help Define the tree shape again some. I do feel like the shadow leads your eye into the painting towards the light on the town in the distance. So darkening that shadow might help guide your eye towards that point anyway. I hope all of that makes sense LOL
Thanks Pam, it makes sense and it is something which did not come into my mind yet. And it gives me an other option to improve it.
My mother-in-law was a watercolor artist and would have loved this painting. When she was teaching me she would say "Shadows are always blue". In this case I think agree with her. Just a little PB over the shadows should finish it nicely. Really nice work.
Thank you indicationofart. Actually I think the photo does not return the real colors. My shadow mixture is 80% ultramarine blue + 15 % brown (either burnt sienna or sepia) + 5% Alizarin Crimson. So normally it look quite blue :)
But if I decide to make the shadows more stronger then I will definitely try to keep them quite blue :)
Hi Tom, I donāt see problems with the shadows in the ground. They look like damages repaired with asphalt or cement. More concern is shadow on the building that looks like mold and perception of light direction get damaged. I would only suggest to redo the wall and remove the upper tree shadow that interacts with structure. I think this fix will automatically make the shadow of bigger tree (lower shadow) look like shadow and not like an issue with the road.
Thank you for your thoughts Sunnylady. Well I didnāt mean only the shadows on the road which I am not happy with. It is both those on the road and those on the small building. I aslo thought about letting a tree reach into the picture from the left side.
I will think about everything.
Both of the ideas that crossed my mind have been said already, and it could work either way: Either darkening the shadows slightly to sharpen the tree shape on the building, or retouch the wall/shingles to remove the shadow altogether. The shadow on the ground seems perfectly fine as is, to me. If I had to choose (if it were me) I'd probably try to eliminate the shadow on the building somehow. Just my 2 cents as a novice painter :D Brilliant work!
Thanks Jeff for your thoughts. A lot of thinking work now needed :)
Another thought because I keep coming back to look at your beautiful stone work. Maybe just remove some of the shadow on the building side. You know, wet and pull.
Yep Tomi. That was the plan. I still havenāt decided what I will do but once I finished it I will share it here. š
Wow!!! This is so beautiful Tom! Is this the 1st watercolor painting you have posted here?
As you know, I have zero experience with watercolor. But before reading your message, I thought that area was wanted this way. So it doesnāt bother me at all. Tho, it probably tickles you. If it does, rework it. Can you ātake outā (I would imagine thatās what youād have to do with watercolors. Canāt add on top of it, correct?) some dark and add highlights to define those trees? Is it doable?
Your cobblestone work is so beautiful that it takes your eyes right to that section of the painting and donāt really pay attention to much else. Beautiful Tom!
Thank you Nancy. I think I shared one other watercolor a few days ago.
Well I just wanted to hear some opinions. I need to go carefully on to it, because these kind of works are really time consuming.
I still havenāt decided yet what I will do but I am glad about every thoughts shared.
I keep checking to see what you have decided to do here, I can't wait to see your update! It's always a treat to view your work Tom.
Thanks Jeff. I am currently too busy to paint but will definitely share it once I got it done. Might take a few weeks until I get it together.
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Don't work with watercolors but I think this painting is awesome and the shadows don't ruin anything!! Just kind of looks like cobblestones or similar!! Love it!