Lunch at the Butt and Oyster

Overall it works really well but I do feel perhaps there is a bit of imbalance in tonality. The tones of the left hand side, the gathering of people, the foreground fence and to a lesser degree the right hand building are not reflected in the central building. If I were faced with this I would be inclined to sweep a much wider dark shadow (not as heavy as the people in tone) under the eaves - probably the same as the left hand side of the building on the right. And also put some dark reflections in the windows - much as I do in my work. Just my thoughts - hope it helps.

Michael you have hit the nail on the head. I wasn't happy with the building - too affected by Charles Reid for my style- too tight - too fussy. I have darkened the roofs and shadows and simplified the windows and it looks better. Many thanks. Very happy that you didn't say "nice painting'. Your comments were much more help.

Glad it helped - had an open studio today and just finished clearing away - feeling whacked but at least it was quite successful - keep painting!!

Although Charles Reid did put something about a 'magic triangle' in his book, I have to say that I have never heard him mention it anywhere else and he certainly didn't refer to it on the course I went on with him. He isn't into rules per se at all and is actually a complete maverick when it comes to his painting techniques. However, he usually tries to have some contact between his subject and the edge of the paper, allowing the figure or scene to touch that boundary and he usually chooses to do that in two or three places (hence the triangle I presume). However, the marks that touch the edges are not large areas of darks or colour - they are often just a small mark in pure pigment - very subtle, but enough to attract the eye. You say that you wanted to paint the people as one tonal shape. CR would not do this as he would vary the tone and colour within that block of people to give light and shade and also incorporate warm and cool colours. Also, the problem with trying to use your normal palette and then follow some of CR's teaching is that this will inevitable produce an inbalance as your eye gets drawn to large blocks of a single colour or very dark areas. In CR's paintings, your eye slows down as it travels because of the range of colour he uses. I think Michael's idea of add a strong shadow under the eves of the building is a good idea. If you wanted to go even further, I would say that adding more variety in colour in the roofs would balance the darker tones and slow the eye down. Getting back to your painting, I think it works on a lot of levels (and better than mine tonally!!), but it is hard putting a advice from an unknown artist into practice just like that, so I think you have had quite a challenge on your hands and done really well.

Thea thank you for your helpful comments. I am sure you appreciate that the mistake I made was trying to use two different styles in the same painting. Obviously my default mode is Wesson/Hall but I was so interested in the idea of the Magic Triangle as seen on pages 12/13 and 32.33 in the Book Watercolour Secrets in which he has three large shapes each with virtually the same tone and hue, and as you say touching the edges of the paper that I tried to use this. It is interesting that you have not found him mentioning this anywhere else but Carl Purcell in his book "Your Artist's Brain" is another who favours this design pattern. As I said in reply to Michael darkening the shadows and the roofs have improved the painting and this post has demonstrated the value of the gallery in receiving such valuable help from you all. Many thanks. you all.

The thing about CR is he is an entirely instinctive painter and that is something that you can't learn. He has tried to give some guidelines but I have to tell you that he will break those if he thinks the painting needs something different to happen. I think you are right that to try and marry two very different styles is a really tall order and it ends up being neither fish nor fowl. I don't know if you saw it, but after the course with him I went on last year, I wrote a daily blog of Charles's demo paintings - how they were put together, what colours he used and how he produced the final painting. If you wanted to have a read, go to the Blog page and then if wanted to see the paintings I was talking about, I can forward you the images. It might help to understand just how he tackles his subject and produces his paintings.

There is an optical illusion in this one Alan - does the shadowed gable end in the centre of the two houses belong to the house on the left or the one on the right? It could go either way.

Good question Frank. Probably needs a Public Enquiry.