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Isle of Skye, WIP
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Message
Posted
Well, I’m here Linda, and with a few observations! Well you did ask...
A two stage WIP is actually difficult to judge, but I always start by blocking in my darkest areas, building up to the lightest highlights.
It looks like you were anxious to get a few brushstrokes of lemon yellow in place prior to building up a few more intermediate layers.
However, the end result is good, I particularly like how you’ve blended/ merged/ smudged the horizon into the sky, that’s spot on. I’m less happy with the harder edge where land meets sea, I would have softened this line, got my finger and started blending it into the sea.
I accept that you’re using a photo as reference, but that’s all it should be, do your own thing! Of course, I haven’t seen the photo so you probably have.
Another way, or in addition to that harder edge, is to drop in a couple or so yachts.
I’m not overly keen on Payne’s grey if I’m honest, but it does work better when mixed with indigo, it livens it up!
Good job though, I only use traditional oils but these look good.
Posted
Nothing to add at this point! Agree with Alan, as per usual - I like the fresh look of this so far, and the colour of your base-layer (or imprimatura) was a good idea: it's giving warmth to the colours laid on it.
I'm not keen on Payne's Grey either, still less on black; my darks vary a lot, but will consist of, basically, red and green, or burnt sienna and French Ultra for a neutral dark, or with Pthalo or Prussian Blue for a green-inclining one. But - I have known people who can use Payne's, Blacks, Blue-Black ... each to their own.
I wonder if you're at all in a similar position to me - I like quite dramatic landscapes, but where I live I haven't got many; or the drama is subtle - we don't have mountains, granite cliffs, deep valleys; though we do have downland, and some fine trees. Gives me the feeling of wanting to break out now and then, and borrow a photo from the internet: I do resist that temptation, though have used some photographs from Ireland sent from a photographer there I know very well, whose eye and mine are very similar ... (look him up: Barry Fitzgerald, based in Tralee). HE'S got mountains, and spectacular landscape to play with. Or perhaps I've just got blasé about the Isle of Wight.
Anyway - it'd probably do us both good to get out more! Internet photos are always going to give you misleading information about colour, and focus - Barry F understands that, whereas many photographers don't, hence the mention.
Posted
Hi Robert thank you for your advice, I am making a note of colour mixes you keep giving me, I don't posses black but I do like payes grey!! lol, I will look Barry Fitzgerald up. I too am like you, we live on the borders of Nottingham, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, so the land is mostly flat, green fields and lots of hedgerows but lovely all the same. Hills and mountains are so appealing but I am finding this one difficult and I have started again with the middle section so will leave it a couple of days and then have another go. Cheers!!
Posted
Nothing to add at this point! Agree with Alan, as per usual - I like the fresh look of this so far, and the colour of your base-layer (or imprimatura) was a good idea: it's giving warmth to the colours laid on it. I'm not keen on Payne's Grey either, still less on black; my darks vary a lot, but will consist of, basically, red and green, or burnt sienna and French Ultra for a neutral dark, or with Pthalo or Prussian Blue for a green-inclining one. But - I have known people who can use Payne's, Blacks, Blue-Black ... each to their own. I wonder if you're at all in a similar position to me - I like quite dramatic landscapes, but where I live I haven't got many; or the drama is subtle - we don't have mountains, granite cliffs, deep valleys; though we do have downland, and some fine trees. Gives me the feeling of wanting to break out now and then, and borrow a photo from the internet: I do resist that temptation, though have used some photographs from Ireland sent from a photographer there I know very well, whose eye and mine are very similar ... (look him up: Barry Fitzgerald, based in Tralee). HE'S got mountains, and spectacular landscape to play with. Or perhaps I've just got blasé about the Isle of Wight. Anyway - it'd probably do us both good to get out more! Internet photos are always going to give you misleading information about colour, and focus - Barry F understands that, whereas many photographers don't, hence the mention.Hi Robert - the chalk cliffs of the Isle of Wight are dramatic, but if you need photographic inspiration, just ask and I'm sure some one will come up with a photo. (I have thousands. Though most of them are animals I so have many landscapes of strange places. I would enjoy looking through my photo of past holidays looking for the inspiration.)
Posted
Yes, I know - snag is, I'm very phobic about heights... but some kind friends have allowed me to use their photos of the cliffs, knowing I'm going nowhere near them. I think it's true, isn't it, that we always minimize the appeal and drama of the places we know best? We get too used to them. I've lived on the island for nearly 70 years, and maybe I've got a bit too used to it.
Posted
Two Lindas .... the last post was a response to Linda Wilson.
Back to Linda Drury - I don't suppose you are panicking about this at all, but when you say you've really messed up - it's often a good idea to just leave the picture for a day or two; do something else; forget about it; then come back for a fresh look. The great thing about acrylic and oil is that you can come back at them - with acrylic, you can just paint over the previous layers; with oil, you have far more freedom than some instructors and books will tell you.... they tend to get too obsessed with 'fat over lean'. But you can scrape paint off; you can blot off excess oil and oily paint with kitchen towel (just lay it on top and leave it for a bit); or you can add fresh paint to a previously painted layer, if you use just oil, and not too much of it, when that first layer is touch-dry.
Some worry too much about paint cracking, but the ways to avoid this are: use a rigid support, i.e. not stretched canvas; don't use very oily paints in your early layers; avoid Zinc White, and paints made with added Zinc (PW 4) - they may not be so problematic in the later layers, but they are if used in the earlier ones (or they can be: much depends on the thickness of the layer). Either way, don't be inhibited about laying on fresh paint - after all, if the painting isn't working with what you've already done, it's not such a loss that you need worry about spoiling it....
I don't use water miscible oils (they're not soluble in water - that's a big mistake that some writers and paintmakers commit; they can be mixed with water, but that's not the same thing at all) - but I believe they're fine if used in layers; all that 'fat over lean' should mean is use a bit of common sense - you can always tell which paints are swimming in oil, and those which are much 'shorter' - avoid the oily ones in the early layers, and I don't believe many of us will ever encounter a problem.
Edited
by Robert Jones, NAPA