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Help with Sky
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Message
Posted
I’d graduate the sky and keep it simple, forget about clouds.
I’d also check out some colour mixes for greens, these aren’t terribly convincing. Ask if you need help here!
I’m never keen on cut outs as in this horses head, far better to work over the whole painting, it will gel better but you didn’t ask advice on that, but I couldn’t resist mentioning it!
Posted
Agree with Linda (- put husbands comments to one side!). I sometimes ask mine for 'does it look ok', and occasionally he will spot something I have missed .... but I usually show him my painting towards the end of the work, cause when he brings up cups of tea (or G & T..), and says something like, 'the eyes aren't right'... it winds me up! Particularly if I'm in the early stages of the painting and the 'whatever he is criticising' isn't going to be anywhere near right at that early a stage!
That aside... sky... I'm not good at.. but when I have had to do sky (in acrylic) I have blended with fingers whilst its still wet. So I perhaps would still have clouds, and different shades of sky, but more softened so as not to take attention away from your main subject
Posted
Tee hee - always ignore hubby. (Actually, I don't really mean that: my brother isn't a painter either, but when I asked him what I could do to improve a painting a good many years ago now, he spotted the problem right away and enabled me to save it.)
Agree with those, Alan onwards, who said work on the whole painting rather than leaving bits of it blank while you finish a section. Because it'll go wrong, 9 times out of 10. I also agree that the sky needs to be kept in its place - let's get the main thing in, then worry about the supporting sections, keeping them supportive and not equally dominant. By the way - I don't think there's much wrong with the sky, to be honest....
Posted
As your painting is predominantly about the horse, the sky isn't that important, though I would personally darken it a bit towards the top. As for working across the painting as a whole, if it is a watercolour then yes, I would probably work piecemeal if using oils. I often ask my wife for an opinion on important work (especially if it's a portrait), as though she is not an artist, she has a keen eye for where shapes are going wrong. Always take note of "another pair of eyes", then decide if to take the advice or not.