Evening Near Snug - 12" X 16" - OOC

tassieguy

This is a small sketch/study I did last night and today.  I spent about 7 hours on it in all. I didn't feel up to starting a large painting. Also, I wasn't sure it would work and I hoped a small study would help me decide.

It's rather dull (it's evening) but perhaps the background hills and sky lift it a bit. I'm still not sure whether it's worth doing a bigger version of it

Thanks for looking and commenting. 

Rob

toujours

If you do a bigger version it may help if there is a patch of light somewhere.  Moonlight in a patch breaking through the clouds?

tassieguy

Thanks, @toujours. 

Edit:  It's only a study but just looked at the above photo again. It's an awful photo. I'll get a much better one in daylight with my camera tomorrow.

@toujours, it's about 6pm in summer so still daylight, and cloudy, so no moon. 

Richard_P

I think for a full size version it needs more areas of interest. But it may be the poor quality photo.

tassieguy

Thanks, @Richard_P.

It's partly the photo and partly the fact that it's dull light with not much colour. And I did it quickly so it's a lot rougher than my usual work. I'll play round with this some more. Unless I can get this small study to work I won't make a big painting of it.

Normally I wouldn't even have posted it but it's been so quiet here that I thought anything is better than nothing.

Thanks again for commenting. 

Richard_P

It has been quiet around here! I miss some of the regulars who used to be here and have been gone for a long time now.

I will have my portrait painting ready to post in a few days

Abstraction

I do love the sense of depth you were able to capture as it creeps into the distance. I can feel the moodiness because it's about that time here in Melbourne right now - 6pm - and dusk is settling in around me with the sky still a little bright above. The colours are very strine, particularly the blue in the hills. There is also a lovely flow to the landscape. The fall of evening is a tricky subject because how dark do you make the landscape for that dusk effect without just appearing dull?

tassieguy

Thanks,@Abstraction.

 It was the gently  undulating 'flow' of the landforms that attracted me to this picture as much as the moody light. I'm glad it looks like Oz. 

@Richard_P, I'm really looking forward to seeing your new one. But I  must be patient. I sometimes forget that not everyone is retired and that they have busy lives beyond painting. 

Richard_P

It's easter holiday here as well so the schools have been shut for 2 weeks (by the end of this week). So even less time to paint!

You sound like you are feeling better btw..

tassieguy

Thanks, @Richard_P.

No, not feeling any better.  I was hoping to get the stent removed this week but that's not going to happen for another ten days because the urologist has gone on holiday. I'm trying to find a new one. I'm still in pain and afraid of getting hooked on the morphine tablets so I only take a few every second day and take Ibuprofen and paracetamol on the off days. So, I'm either bombed out on morphine or in pain and unable to start a new big paining until this problem is resolved. Sorry to write about such misery but telling someone seems to help. 

Richard_P

Oh no! So sorry to hear that.. Hope your situation improves soon..

ArtGal

Rob, I  feel sorry to hear it as well. hope you will find another doctor and feel better soon. 

tassieguy

Thanks, @Richard_P and @ArtGal.  A problem shared is a problem halved. I will get better, I'm sure. I just have to get through this next ten days and then the prostate operation. After that I'll be peeing like a horse again and there'll be no stopping me re painting.

tassieguy

When I was a lad I used to think old people were just whingers. Not now. 

CBG

@tassieguy

I love this one.  It has a certain uncomplicated directness and purity, it coveys the Beauty of what it was like to be there at that moment.  No purpose could be greater and nothing higher could be achieved by any landscape painting. 

Like the quiet stillness and the fresh evening air it evokes... the pure uncomplicated distillation of beauty here is such that no more could be asked of the canvas and anything more would be an unwanted intrusion.

IMHO

Well done.

tassieguy

Thanks very much, @CBG. Much appreciated. 

anwesha

I like the sense of peace and calm in this painting.. very restful.
I wish and pray that everything gets sorted soon and a very quick recovery after the op..@tassieguy … take care.

tassieguy

Thanks very much, @anwesha. 

I hope you enjoyed your trip away. 

anwesha

Thank you @tassieguy. Still on the trip but will catch up whenever I get some time and good internet  

mikestpierre

Love the brushwork

allforChrist

Perfect little clouds and scenery.  I suggest the ridge of the mountain be a tad crisper.

tassieguy

Thanks, @allforChrist. Yes, the line of the hill top needs to be sharper. 

whunt

I like the moodiness and subdued colors. The shades and brush strokes of the plantings create a sense of movement like a breeze. Perhaps the patch of blue in the sky could be warmer and likewise for the patch of green grass? 

tassieguy

Thanks for your kind words and suggestions, @whunt.

I guess that's the value of doing a small study.  It's like 'try before you buy'; you can see if it's going to work as a full sized painting, or at least see what needs altering.

I've benefitted from everyone's comments on this little piece. Thanks heaps. 

allforChrist

The more I think about it, @tassieguy, I think I would leave it as a study and not proceed with a larger painting.  I think it has said and done its purpose, more than anything larger could do.  

Just a thought.  You may  have already  proceeded by now and only you know what should be or should not be painted.

adridri

I like this one a lot. It has a very nice and peacefully mood to it. Feels very nice !

tassieguy

Thanks, @adridri. 

CBG

For what it’s worth as a lover of landscapes, I would love to look at and own a large version of that uncomplicated painting, just as it is, but big!

The question is whether as an artist, you would want to paint it bigger AND whether your customers will allow you to change up your style a bit from time to time!

tassieguy

Thanks very much, @CBG.

This little study is still leaning against the wall in my studio. It wants to be bigger and I'll probably give into it soon. It's one I'll do without caring whether it will sell. I'll do it for myself. 

CBG

tassieguy said:

This is a small sketch/study I did last night and today.  I spent about 7 hours on it in all. I didn't feel up to starting a large painting. Also, I wasn't sure it would work and I hoped a small study would help me decide.

It's rather dull (it's evening) but perhaps the background hills and sky lift it a bit. I'm still not sure whether it's worth doing a bigger version of it

Thanks for looking and commenting. 

Rob

@tassieguy and everyone

Just to balance things out, I ask everyone to right click and open this piece in a "new tab".

Now observe the genius of the darkness here, in the trees at the tree line, under the clouds, and the general evening dark... a humid coolness... all throughout the foreground and the field.  Far off there is a hazy mountain range, only ever so slightly lighter, and there.. BAM, in the sky are the last evening strains of haze and daylight.. an ending to a day without an orange sunset... but with peeks of the naked cool blue sky.

It almost feels as if a storm is coming... echoes of form in the dark patches of the sky, the tree line and the undulations of the field patches of grass.. speak off of each other.


IMHO There is genius here, in composition, in value, in atmosphere, and in color.  Perhaps not one borne solely of calculation but mostly of intuition... I've stood in nature on an evening like this... and even though it looks good to the two eyes, it "feels" even better to the third (or how ever many other  metaphorical "eyes" one has).  IMHO the artist is using his "third eye" to craft a sight beyond what any camera could provide, no matter how detailed or perfect.

This is Art, not a photograph.  It has found a rhythm and a harmony with that place... it successfully captures and conveys something of the experience of that place at that time.  What engages us here is so much more than any blade of grass or any particular brush stroke. It presents perfectly to the mind's eye the meaning of the whole.  

IMHO this is done at the perfect level of detail for its purpose, and I say with all honesty, is one of the greatest landscapes I have ever seen.  Its gravitas in darkness... in boldness in its strokes and contrast... it's not overstating or understating anything here... it's simply glorious.

Bravo!

tassieguy

Thanks very much, @CBG, for your detailed critique on this one. I'm glad you like it.  I think this sketch is more successful than the larger version I did recently in which I lightened the already poor photo in Affinity.  I think I lost some of the drama by doing so. I should have painted it dark like the one above. 

CBG

@tassieguy

You are on a never ending artistic journey, it will get better and better, and sometimes things will come together like magic.  This one has its own unique magic I think.  

You should frame it… and let me know your price if you are too traumatized by the attempt to outdo yourself to keep it….

Leo2015

Love the mood. It's visual poetry.