The Pomegranate Path, Oman, 2013 7"x 5½ canvas board study

Gary_Heath

Another values exercise using an archive photo. It's more impressionistic than DMP perhaps--the reference was way too detailed for me to do it realistically so I simplified.  Any feedback welcome and thanks for looking! (stand back a bit or shrink the screen)







Ref photo:



ENDS_______________

tassieguy

It's a strong composition and there is some good colour and brushwork in this, @Gary_Geath.  Some of the sunlit  parts are perhaps a little  bright and some of the shadows a bit dark. But this lends it a boldness that works as painting in a modernist way. It's almost abstract. 

joydeschenes

@Gary_Heath nice study,  I see your values in the far mountains and the pomegranate tree.  You did hit that nice yellow light in the rock on the foreground mountain that could have carried down through the path instead of the bright white. Thanks for sharing 

Gary_Heath

@tassieguy; @joydeschenes Thanks.  It's a bit glaring, isn't it.  Mark Carder among others warns about overdoing highlights and the need to maintain subtlety.

whunt

I think the photo is an excellent choice for a painting. I believe most of the background is believable and going very well. Perhaps the pathway and foreground could be defined more? 

heartofengland

Hi Gary.

I always like your paintings. They're so different from how I paint. You complete things much more quickly and yours have much more energy.

A lot of your energy and form comes from your lovely brushwork.
On this part, your strong brush strokes show the form of the landscape. The way the ground slopes down to the left, the way the palm leaves jut outwards, the vertical uprights of the pillars.

There are lots of other parts that are just as good, especially the mountains.


For me this part of the path works less well for the same reasons. The strong vertical brush strokes make me think I'm looking at something sticking up, instead of a flat path. This made it very confusing until I saw the photo 

The same with the gulley. I don't get the feeling of the side and bottom of the gulley. I thought it was a branch .

Keep the brushwork in your paintings, it's really good. Make it work for you when you're trying to paint surfaces at different angles. Eg horizontal for the path, vertical for the gulley sides.

Just my suggestion. I am frequently wrong.

allforChrist

Nice choice of subject!!  Only critique would be what others have said, which is that the sidewalk highlight is a pure white in your painting but a much darker value in the photo.

GTO

You could just glaze over the white on the path to knock it back in value and color closer to the rocks on the right side. Other than that I get it. It’s more abstract but it reads mountain scene.

Gary_Heath

It may not look a lot different, but I've tried to even out the values by knocking some down and adding a little warmth to the darkest areas.  I added a few bright patches in the mid-distance for interest and because they are there actually.  Adjusting values is the devil; this was a good exercise for me.  @heartofengland - the path and gully are not really accurately drawn due to different ratios between the reference and canvas.  I fudged it so I could get on with the exercise but this is not satisfactory agreed.  Thank you for your kind remarks about my brushwork. @joydeschenes - that was a good suggestion, thank you.