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Tarrabora Reserve #4
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Message
Posted
Brett you are facing the problem that a lot of us have a do have the the greens , foliage is extremely difficult to get right due to all the different hues of green . With the background a touch of blue green will pull it back and give depth to the scene, it’s worth having a scrap piece of paper handy when your painting to try and test out different greens together.
It really is a problem that’s face landscape paintings from the early day of painting, no matter how long you have been painting we still make the odd mistakes with foliage colours . If you are not happy with the look might be worth trying it out on this painting , wet the area with clean water and dab off the existing paint, don’t need it to be totally clean then ad a darker green in the blue green range . It takes a bit of practice to get the idea of the distant trees , hills etc looking as if they are actually far away. Perseverance is the key to success and adapting techniques to suit your goals.
Posted
You could darken the trunk slightly to one side and create much more contrast. The lower portion of the tree could benefit from being in more shadow gradually working up. This would put the upper part of the tree, which is bathed in most natural light appear lighter. Put most of the shadow the side you darken the trunk. As Paul has suggested the background foliage needs to be lighter to indicate distance. The other bush closest to the tree, again, would improve from shadowing from the bottom. Light becomes less as it falls through a tree and its branches.
Posted
Yes, a dark trunk to the tree, and darker foliage underneath where the light is obscured.
Don’t use all those small brush marks on the foliage, they aren’t convincing.
To be honest, it isn’t a great composition, I’d rethink the whole thing and start afresh… the cropped version works slightly better!
Better if you can work from an actual scene regarding trees, get out and about and study them, study them closely and mix a selection of greens on the spot for later reference - these greens aren’t realistic in any way. Obviously they aren’t in leaf at present so a problem there!
It’s not difficult, but when trying to work from imagination or memory, that’s where the problem lies in my opinion!
There are lots of different combinations to mix convincing greens… shout up if you need some help.
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Agree with all the above (of course! ) but would just say that shifting that big tree to either right or left would help improve the composition. I'm no expert on watercolour, but in this one the light source seems to be directly above: that's always going to give you problems. A slanting direction of light helps a lot in defining shape - as does remembering that the foreground greens are likely to be stronger in tone than the ones farther away; the trunk needed a strong shadow, where the foliage overhangs it, but not a uniform brown. You can work from imagination as you gain experience, but studies from nature - or at worst a good photograph, with plenty of tonal variety - is going to be more helpful. If you do use a photo, a well shot monochrome is useful: you can be led a long, long way astray by the greens in a colour photo.
The cropped version is better - and you could still rescue this one, I think, by blotting some of the colour out at one side of the tree, establishing a few branches, deeping the trunk colour. But if you've worked on it a fair bit already, you've probably lost a lot of enthusiasm for it: that's not always a good reason to abandon ship, but in your place I'd have another go at it, starting on a fresh piece of paper, preferably with a stronger source photo, or from life. Keep going - I still struggle with watercolour; maybe take a look at the work of Steve Cronin: won't suit everyone, but he'd help you loosen up a bit.
Posted
Hi Brett
I agree with most of what has been said above. Certainly your cropped version works better,
and deeper shadows and highlights would improve the image.
But hold tight! You’re in Australia, not only must the trees and the light be different than in the currently rain sodden and dreary UK, but why not abandon the photos and get out there to paint!? If you haven’t tried it before you may find it tricky at first, but if you spend time sitting and observing initially I’m sure this will help your painting and I guarantee
(🤞) you’ll enjoy it!
Edited
by Tessa Gwynne
Posted
Thanks everyone for comments. The only place for this is the bin. And the only redeeming quality it has in the lesson, or lessons.
I will keep the cropped version. I guess the main lesson for me, and probably a consistent weakness, is observation. I’m just not looking at the subject carefully enough.
Edited
by Brett Hill
Posted
Brett - that's probably quite a common fault ... but we can train ourselves, if we know what we're doing wrong; it's difficult when you know something is amiss, but don't know exactly what. My recommendation would be to take your time; plan your painting, if only in just your mind's eye: on the one hand, we can be in too much of a hurry to get the paint down; and on the other, we can put it off for so long that we never actually do it. Balance is what we're after here - and you get nearer to it in time, with practice and persistence.
Posted
Brett , forget the paintings for a couple of hours and simple have a stroll around looking at trees , bushes even the grass for a while . Sit in park or even your garden with the intention of doing nothing but looking, sounds a waste of time but honestly you will see more for not focusing on the details etc, even squint as you look at a tree as this highlights the shadows and tones . Then either later or even the next day go do a simple tonal sketch in pencil don’t forget to use a couple of then B2, 4 or even B8 will give you a good variety, everyone uses slightly different pencils , sketching is the most important of all the skills needed to paint and never a waste of time and effort.
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