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Adjust foreground Or leave it alone?
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Message
Posted
Frankly no is my opinion! It all looks fine to me but if you do, don’t overdo it.
I’d be more inclined to have a look at the sky. I’m not a big fan of using too much black in this area (actually I never use any), but obviously you haven’t said what time of day it is! Needs warming up a bit!
I like the bottom half, great iconic scene of course of which we are all familiar with.
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Very hard decision, but I think I agree with Alan - if you're going to do it, do it minimally... just a few strokes of the brush to pick out grass textures. The sky....... well, it's dramatic. I don't use black either - I have never,ever been able to make it work in a painting, certainly not in the sky. I have similar reservations about Payne's Grey. But if you agree with us, then a glaze over it should work, i.e. a warmer glaze. And if you don't - leave it!
Posted
Hello Alicia, I rather thought I was missing something here with all the references to black as I could not see any evidence of black in your dramatic sky. For what it’s worth I like your sky. I think the foreground could do with a bit of work... but easy does it, don’t spoil what you have. I would suggest keeping it light in tone but a complimentary colour to the sky and a little more textured.
Posted
Photographs don’t always show off our paintings to their best advantage I agree Alicia.
I’m looking on an Apple monitor and it does show up as predominantly black, so thanks for clarifying your colours.
They aren’t colours that I would have selected but we all see things differently and have a choice, which is why we became artists and not photographers!
I actually, rarely if ever copy nature as it appears for that simple reason, if you check out my work you’ll get the gist of what I’m referring to.
Posted
Monitors can make a huge difference. I didn't see the blackness of the sky as a problem on either of mine - I use two for editing purposes, and the one picks up nuances less visible on the other. I like the Light Red and Ultra mix, or Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine -- if I want a dark sky, I'll normally go with those, but there are many other ways.
The sky didn't strike me as a problem until I read Alan's comment - saw his point, and did pick up the use of Payne's grey. But - no, it doesn't look dead on my screens.
The only other point to be made about the foreground is that if you add much more detail, you'll bring it forward, and push the buildings back - which you could do, but might not want to. I would be sorely tempted to just add a touch to the bottom right - sometimes though, temptation is best resisted.
Posted
Thank you Alan and Robert for your replies.
I've not thought of ultra marine and burnt seinna/light red. I'll give it a go, but maybe in the next painting. I find skies incredibly difficult to blend, detail of everything else I'm comfortable with. My usual dark sky mixes Parisian blue and raw umber, but then I discovered Payne's grey, it made a change from the blue tone, I maybe over doing it.
I've painted in acrylic for the last 20 years and have decided im going to give oil another go, starting this Friday infact.
My house will be empty so I can throw open the windows if I need to. I've been slowly collecting a few of my favourite colours and I can see just from the tubes that colours look richer, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Alicia
Posted
As mentioned above Ultramarine blue and Burnt Sienna/ Light Red make an easily obtainable and effective dark, Although I find it a bit dull if used throughout a picture. I would urge you to experiment a bit with your colours to create more interesting darks. Mix the three primary colours together and you will get a dark. One of my favourite combinations is Cadmium Yellow+Cobalt Blue+Permanent Alizarin (or another cool red). By varying the amounts a bit you can get darks with blue, red or yellow cast...... add white and a whole range of interesting greys become achievable.
Posted
Your painting has good tonal values and I like the contrasts. This isn't a criticism, just a suggestion-
Maybe the light part of the sky should fall behind the house to throw it forward and then a darker foreground could be introduced to give the painting a feeling of depth.
Have you tried Indanthrene Blue and Indian Red, makes a powerful dark, and when thinned down gives a lovely dark but translucent effect.