Finished landscape 16x20

CJD

This one's coming along.. feels big and challenging after doing small 8x10s. Wasn't able to finish before some of the darks started sinking in.

The colours are more natural in person. The photo's oversaturated and a bit harsh looking.

Abstraction

I love this. Very intense use of colour, form and dimension - such a strong design. If you did nothing else it would be successful.

toujours

Very striking.  Is it just me, or does it have a American "feel" to it.  Perhaps the light is slightly reminiscent of Hopper?
Was this done from a photo or imagination?  I only ask as the building seems quite a way from the water to be throwing a reflection; however, I am fully aware that light can throw amazing reflections which can defy physics at times!

CJD

@toujours you might be right about the reflection I completely made that part up (midway through the painting.. i put it on top of the water already painted) I kind of wish I didn't because it was annoying to paint. Maybe I should delete it. I'll erase it in photoshop and see which version I prefer.

Compositionally it does draw attention away from the building so probably best to paint it out. Thanks for the idea

@Abstraction thanks glad you like it! I have more paintings planned in a similar style

CJD

Here's the more or less finished piece. Painted on dibond primed with alkyd lead primer. I kind of messed up the ground application (second coat was thick and bumpy) which I think is the cause of the darks sinking in so fast. Usually this ground is pretty non-absorbant. Should be pretty archival though since it felt like painting on 20-grit sandpaper made of hard lead rocks.

Richard_P

CJD said:

Should be pretty archival though since it felt like painting on 20-grit sandpaper made of hard lead rocks.

What was in your primer to make it so rough??

Richard_P

Nice painting btw!

CJD

It's just the rublev alkyd primer. If you apply it with a foam roller too thick it's pretty bumpy and hard to smooth out. 

GTO

This one hits the mark. 

 I was thinking about your rural Canada painting the other day trying to understand why it makes me feel the way it does.   This painting has a similar feel but sharper and with a sense of something greater.

It’s the low tone combined with the high chroma.  They tend to strengthen the effect of each other.  The line building strengthens the somber feel of the low tone.
In this painting the effect of “something greater” comes from the sunlight coming in from the left onto the trees.  The orange trees against the big, clean crisp ultramarine blue sky is the something bigger.  

I could sit with this painting for hours soaking up that feeling.  

toujours

Much less unsettling now the reflection is gone.   It seems realistic now.

This has a very calm feel to it and is easy to sit and ponder....Good job.

Desertsky

@CJD - Both are beautiful and have a definite sense of atmosphere or feeling. I prefer the first, with its impossible reflection in the water. It makes one's eyes follow a different route than the more conventional one. 

One of the things I really like about DMP is all the different approaches which I would never think of by myself. 

Congratulations on two successful paintings. (Maybe you will recreate the first.)

tassieguy

This is a wonderful painting, @CJD. I get the same feeling that @GTO speaks of.  The intensity of the color, the simplicity of line and the strong composition all work together to create a powerful image. 

Abstraction

CJD said:

It's just the rublev alkyd primer. If you apply it with a foam roller too thick it's pretty bumpy and hard to smooth out. 

I've learnt to lightly sand alkyd primers which works a treat, but if it contains lead I wouldn't sand it. Gamblin suggested 180 grit for their alkyd oil ground.

CJD

Thanks all for the nice comments - glad you like the painting.

@Abstraction I haven't tried the Gamblin one yet. I have a ton of prepped panels and canvases and canvases glued to panels (from 2 years ago) and won't be making new ones for a while. I just started a new painting today and it's on acrylic primed linen glued to dibond.

Something I've learned is that the surface you paint on is very important and can have a huge impact on the final look of the painting. I've had some random successes largely based on getting lucky using the right surface for a particular painting. I've also had some failures. It's especially difficult painting alla prima on a super smooth white panel. Wouldn't recommend it. Having some texture to paint over generally makes things easier.

@Desertsky I learned to paint by following the DMP method pretty closely (copying printed and laminated images with careful colour matching) but now I just look at images on a computer monitor and do a mix of copying and improvising. It's been a long time since I entirely copied a photograph

whunt

Beautiful painting with a surreal feel to it. Love the composition and colors, exudes a peaceful, quiet warmth.