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Mountain Summer - - 42" X 22" - OOC
This is the first painting I've been able to do since my operation. It is a picture I was going to paint for my last show but didn't have time. It shows Storm Bay and the Channel from the track that leads up to the summit of Kunanyi. I photographed the painting at night so the colour is a bit off and the contrast is too strong and there's a bit of glare from my studio lights. But it gives an idea of the painting. I'll take a better photo outside in daylight tomorrow. I got the canvas covered tonight and would welcome any feedback folks care to give.
Thanks for looking and commenting.
Rob
PS It looks better if right click the image and then click "open it in a new tab" so you get to see it against a darker background.
Thanks for looking and commenting.
Rob
PS It looks better if right click the image and then click "open it in a new tab" so you get to see it against a darker background.
Comments
Hopefully you can post a better photo so we can see more of the details
@dewald, I have an annual exhibition at a commercial gallery here. The next one is in January. It takes me all year to get enough paintings ready for a show so I really needed to get back into it.
Thank you both for your kind comments re this one. Much appreciated.
And of course it's more moving than the last masterpiece.
I can't critique this, Rob, I literally cannot.
I love it up there on the mountain. It's a beautiful place. I'm very pleased that folks think the painting works.
Is the sky in its final form? The photo shows it as almost uniform nebulous light grey. I wondered whether this was the camera not picking up your detail, my poor screen or whether you had bolder plans for it.
The sky is pretty much done. The camera is not good at picking up subtle variations in value in the clouds. If you saw the painting in the flesh you would see that the tops of the clouds are a bit brighter and their under sides a little darker.
This is great Rob.
When I look at the distant landscape I get the feeling of sweltering heat.
Wonderful
It was a hot day down below but quite cool up on the mountain at 1260 meters/ 4100 feet above sea level. I imagine it would be like standing at the top of Ben Nevis or the Cairngorms in summer. The snow is gone but you still know you're in a high, cold place: It can snow on Kunanyi even in mid-summer.
I notice you vary the size, direction, and type of brushstrokes in what appears to be a purposeful manner. (in contrast to an abstract/random stype stroke).
Could you provide a little insight into some of the considerations you take into account which govern those strokes?
I've done some more work on this one and I'm happier with it now. I wanted more subtlety in the gradation of values in the vegetation. But as one gets down to smaller and smaller detail that gets harder and harder.
I guess I use the direction of the brushstrokes to help describe the forms. But, to be honest, it's not something I have consciously thought about. I just try to put a stroke of the right shape and size and of the correct value and colour in the right place. Sometimes I stand there for a long time after loading my brush and mentally rehearse putting it in just the right place. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I get it wrong and then have to scrape it off. But that's the great thing about oils. They are very forgiving. You can't do that with water colour. I'm still learning how to do this and I guess I will be still learning right up to the last painting do.
the greens look so soft and vibrant and the entire piece is so expansive .
Beautiful painting! Great sense of depth and atmosphere. There is a solidity to the way you paint that is very appealing.
"Sometimes I stand there for a long time after loading my brush and mentally rehearse putting it in just the right place."
Sounds like Sargent.
It's funny how folks will sometimes say that they like my work, which makes me happy, and then I'll see something like the Carl Knibb landscape that was posted tonight in the Daily Inspiration thread and I think, Ahh, now, that's how I really want to paint. And then I start despairing. But it doesn't last. I'm back at the easel the next day.
Thanks again for your kind words.
One person can have as many styles and techniques as he or she wants!
Do not settle into your self-imposed limitations. expand beyond them!
Your current style is excellent, but if it's not the way you "really" want to paint, just start doing some paintings the way you really want to as your second style... go for it!!
Naw... you don't need to get away from anything... just keep doing what you are doing for 80% of your paintings, but for every one in 5 paintings, do it differently... i.e. ADD to the possible kinds of paintings you do... OK I'll be quiet now.
Remember the difference between training and a test or between practice and a competition between seasonal game versus a playoff?
Not every one of your paintings is in front of a big crowd, and is win-lose for keeps, and will be in the school newspaper or determine your ranking or whether your team is eliminated etc …. some of your paintings are like practising your shot, kick, punch, stride, flips at home… by you for you as the only judge and the only sensei being your own cheering section your own support your own security blanket your own mad scientist… bring that inner child of yours forth, free to invent and play to your hearts content.
You can be all that and more for yourself. All you need to do is choose to be that for yourself.