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Redcliffe, Bristol
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Message
Posted
Saw a place yesterday that really caught my eye:Redcliffe wharf, Bristol
. I hope I can do it justice. On my drawing I think I have overcooked the windows in number and size, which reduces the effect of the colour...which is what this picture is really about. Should I reduce the windows? I think so.
And my initial drawings...
. I hope I can do it justice. On my drawing I think I have overcooked the windows in number and size, which reduces the effect of the colour...which is what this picture is really about. Should I reduce the windows? I think so.
And my initial drawings...
Posted
Hello David,
I like your drawing but it is difficult for me to see on the screen if you have overdone the windows. Yes the windows are important as is are the colours of the terrace. If I was doing (in oils or pastels) I would concentrate on the colours adding the windows wet in wet without too much detail.
For me I would also remove some of the left hand edge of the picture which I think would make a stronger composition (as below)
Hope this helps. Alan Morris
Hope this helps. Alan Morris
Posted
Think I agree about the crop of the left hand side. Windows - well: if you want an accurate representation, you need the windows. But then, you've got your photograph for that, so the demands of the picture should guide you, not a literal translation. Gotto say - I'd hate to do this: while I hate detail, I'm also rather inclined to include it - so I'd have a fight with myself over this one, the literalist combatting the figurativist.
Posted
I guess I am similar in many ways to the OP. I like to draw out before I paint and include details plus I have been working on A4 and A5 but I have been avoiding landscapes like this at that size. You do need to include the windows but I think you need to block the colour of the buildings out and dot them on top rather than get all their anatomy. If you want white frames with dark windows I would suggest larger than A4 though I suppose its possible to do at this scale it might be hard graft.
Edited
by Daveyboyz
Posted
I was taken by the photo and agree with the crop - it's certainly a scene I would enjoy painting (in watercolour) although I would probably add a tree or something to break the building façade but then I wouldn't be seeking a painting faithful to the actual scene. I use a shorthand method to depict windows so they wouldn't be a problem - I would have more difficulty in making the solid brown-looking quayside wall look interesting - in fact I might shorten it a bit.
Posted
The photo might not make an interesting painting. It seems to have been taken on an overcast day when there was a lack of strong shadows. It means that the buildings appear rather flat. There's also not much variety in shapes. There's just two main features, the terraced houses and the river bank curving from left to right and diminishing in size. Generally there's mainly mid tones and there isn't much variety in the picture.
I often take photos of scenes, and they turn out not to be as useful for painting as I thought.
Posted
I actually prefer photos taken on overcast days. They may be flat but generally the detail in areas which would otherwise have been lost in shadow can be read. Also I can use artistic licence and add my own tones and shadows as and where I want to place them - in other words I interpret the scene in my own mind without being influenced by the restrictions of the photo which is only used for factual placement.
Posted
Well I have started (almost finished) this painting, despite being warned off it. I changed size and went to 1/4 imperial on a rough paper (rough ish). I tried to keep most colours muted at the brown end of the palette so that the houses and boats show up. I dropped the big freighter, going for a line of canal boats whos colours mimic the houses - so we have colour bands from houses, down to the boats and finally into the canal. The canal I have left pale, more like a river than a canal, fading out to a darker grey to balance the sky. In essence the painting fades from dark through light to dark diagonally with the colour bands running at right angles to the tonal graduation. Sounds pretentious, probably is, but I think it works.
I used a larger brush as well, as recommended, and went not for detail but for 'what attracted me in the first place'.
I shall post a picture in the gallery when it is finished.
D
Edited
by DavidG4YVM
Posted
I have just posted my finished Redcliffe painting. I'm sort of happy with it. It's not right by a long way. I am starting to think there's an artistic style within me that I am not really letting go because Im not sure what it is. Eitherway, all jolly good fun to get this one out of my system. Do have a gander, we had such a natter about it on the forum I'd hate you to miss the great experience of seeing what I have done!!! (Tongue in cheek!!!)
D