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Country lane in the snow
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Message
Posted
I would be grateful for any comments regarding this picture I have been working on. Its a watercolour A4 in size using 5 colours raw sienna, burnt siena, cadmium red, cobalt blue, and french ultramarine. I have also used white gouache in certain areas to enhance the snow. I would like to think it is complete but can't help feeling it could be further improved. Looking forward to hearing what you think!
Posted
ANY painting - probably - can be further improved. But they can also be spoiled by too much attention. Finding the balance is the problem, but a thing I'd like to see people resist is the inclusion of "a little man and his dog", and variants on that theme: now and then, I like a nice, bare landscape, free of persons and pooches. Because it can become a cliché.
Which in this case means - I think you've cracked it and I would leave it as is in your place. There ARE things you could do; you could strengthen foreground shadows, you could add more twigs, you could put little flicks of highlight in to the nearer areas, you could introduce a bird or two - but structurally, the painting is done.
Posted
I could have accept it as finished, but as Robert have said earlier - any artwork can be further improved.
I'm struggling myself to decide when to stop, and usually after I call painting finished - I have this weird feeling to regret it and carry on further...
So it's probably down to our own thing whether we can accept it as it is, or would want to push it even further...
I like this painting very much, lovely viewit is.
Art.
Posted
ANY painting - probably - can be further improved. But they can also be spoiled by too much attention. Finding the balance is the problem, but a thing I'd like to see people resist is the inclusion of "a little man and his dog", and variants on that theme: now and then, I like a nice, bare landscape, free of persons and pooches. Because it can become a cliché. Which in this case means - I think you've cracked it and I would leave it as is in your place. There ARE things you could do; you could strengthen foreground shadows, you could add more twigs, you could put little flicks of highlight in to the nearer areas, you could introduce a bird or two - but structurally, the painting is done.Ah Robert, and a man and a dog was nearly added! So grateful now that I hesitated and asked for advice! You are right and I think leaving the landscape to speak for itself is the right thing to do. I am going to resist the temptation to fiddle and will let the picture 'rest' for a while before doing anything further. Thank you very much for your help and suggestions they are most appreciated!
Posted
I could have accept it as finished, but as Robert have said earlier - any artwork can be further improved. I'm struggling myself to decide when to stop, and usually after I call painting finished - I have this weird feeling to regret it and carry on further... So it's probably down to our own thing whether we can accept it as it is, or would want to push it even further... I like this painting very much, lovely viewit is. Art.Hi Art, Thank you for your help and advice. I was on the point of adding in some figures which, I realise now, would have been unwise. I am going to let the picture 'rest' for a while and come back to it in a few weeks but I feel pretty confident that it will be declared finished at that point! Ray
Posted
Some artists do include figures, but you’ve got to get the proportions right. Sounds obvious, but even small figures in the distance must look as though they belong, and not merely dropped in as a final thought!
David Curtis ROI often includes figures in his superbly painted landscapes, worth having a look at how he approaches this issue for future projects.
Looks reasonably finished to me also! I would have mixed up a strong wash of ultramarine blue with a touch of alizarin crimson and strengthened the lower part of the path, with some car tracks leading up the road with the same wash… you’ve got quite a lot of pathway with not a lot going on!
This is my recent version to show what I mean about making a stronger lead in to the composition!
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Yes - I've no problem at all with adding figures, just to be clear, but am not keen on putting them in as a matter of course, or adding them as an afterthought: you're more likely to get the proportions right if you intended the figure - with or without dog or companions - to be there from the outset; I think we're more likely to get the proportions wrong if we add the figures as an edit - I don't make it a rule, though. One of mine had a dog looking out over a landscape: I'd always intended the dog, but then I thought "how did he get there? Will he be all right on his own...?": so I added an old lady with a leash in her hand; one of my happier decisions, because it worked, AND the painting sold.
As Alan so convincingly shows here, directional curves (please not straight lines) and strong shadows can help enormously to add depth and direction. I like Raymond's painting as it is, though - he can always do another one, with those features, if he'd like to. Another challenge!
Posted
Some artists do include figures, but you’ve got to get the proportions right. Sounds obvious, but even small figures in the distance must look as though they belong, and not merely dropped in as a final thought! David Curtis ROI often includes figures in his superbly painted landscapes, worth having a look at how he approaches this issue for future projects. Looks reasonably finished to me also! I would have mixed up a strong wash of ultramarine blue with a touch of alizarin crimson and strengthened the lower part of the path, with some car tracks leading up the road with the same wash… you’ve got quite a lot of pathway with not a lot going on! This is my recent version to show what I mean about making a stronger lead in to the composition!Thank you Alan for the good advice and example. I think I may now try a new picture and incorporate some of the learning from this one into that ! Thank you again! Raymond strengthen the foreground like