Cloudy day at the beach IMPROVED

MeganS

Hey all! Just finished a painting today. I realized that painting waterscapes is not my thing. I became impatient many times with this piece. The figure is too small for my liking because I really like figures! The waves were whiter than my white on my photo and the pants were really dark. There is so much glare and light reflection in the water even with a cloudy sky. I even resorted to using the knife so that my whites didn't mix with the blues and grays. This painting is untitled as of yet. Oil on canvas 22x22 inches.

[Deleted User]

Awesome painting and awesome photo of the painting.

MeganS

It's gallery wrapped and I painted the three edges I can reach. Once I paint the bottom of the painting, how do you suggest I dry it? Do I make a stand of some sort? Should I keep the really expensive artristic easel for a drying easel? LOL.

thebigskyguy

Very nice, I think you did an excellent job with the water.

MeganS

Kingston said:

The water is great color is super. The figure is a bit hard edged for the atmospherics in the scene. The waves are outstanding.

I know!! And I've decided that I've deviated enough from the photo to not try any longer. I didn't take the shot with a painting in mind. I just wanted to see if I could do water. So the photo was taken overexposed. I took the highlights and exposure down and brought the shadows up. Even with these corrections, the contrast is too much. It is not what we would actually see at the beach. After I got the photo printed and laminated, it was then I realized that the pants were very dark and the water was too light; too wide of a range of values. So the water you see here in the painting is quite a bit darker than the photo and the figure is quite a bit lighter than the photo. I tried to soften the edges a bit, but it still seems too far apart in values making it stark. The boy even looks transplanted at times. You know how we are supposed to protect our darks? Well, it goes the other way too. Protect the lights. The white whites and the dark darks need to be done on naked canvas with a clean brush. Lesson learned.

dencal

MeganS

Beautiful work!

Denis

MeganS

Yes indeed. I've been trying to go out with my camera with a painting in mind. I just haven't had many chances recently. And it seems the person that is with me the most will be my model, but being four, she's not exactly cooperative. I'm also learning how to be a better photographer. I can edit quite well but I have yet to really learn the camera. I would love to take photos of people doing regular things in public places. I wonder how I would go about asking to paint them as subjects?

MeganS

@Kingston‌ I do have complete control. I own a nice camera: Nikon D7100 with 35mm f/1.8 G (I have no idea what that is, it is the lens that I like most vs. the zoom lens) nice computer with lightroom/Photoshop, Epson printer and laminator. I do have control...so really I have no excuse except for the fact that I'm new at this and I'm learning. I'm at the experimental phase of painting. I want to try different surfaces, underdrawing techniques and mediums. On the next painting, I would like to use poly canvas, gessoed, pencil/charcoal underdrawing with fixative and burnt umber wash. I might try it on a practice crappy canvas that I have.

[Deleted User]

MeganS said:

I own a nice camera: Nikon D7100 with 35mm f/1.8 G (I have no idea what that is, it is the lens that I like most vs. the zoom lens)

Nice! B-) On that camera, I believe that lens is equivalent to 56mm. My favourite lenses, personally, are normal prime lenses — normal meaning close to 50mm (neither "wide-angle" nor "telephoto") and prime meaning it doesn't zoom.

So you're shooting the same way I would. Doesn't work for full-length life-sized portraiture, but for everything else, that's the lens I would want.

MikeO

Megan:

To begin with this painting is terrific. Don't get discouraged. Last week you were talking about throwing out your baby painting and that painting looks great too.

Your camera equipment seems good as well. I hope you're shooting RAW because it makes a big difference.

I'm also in the experimental stage. The painting I'm working on now is different in many respects than my painting of Dan. I just have to keep working on my organization.

I read on another thread that you were not pleased with using pastel pencil, that you felt the line was too thick. I wanted to say something then and maybe I should have. I just didn't want to say anything at that time that later turned out to not be true. I was very concerned that the pastel lines on my next painting would not be covered by the paint but that hasn't proved to be the case. Tomorrow or the next day I'll be posting my half finished progress photo where you can clearly see the pastel lines on the unfinished portion. Once you paint over them they're gone.

As for getting people to pose for you, I hear you. It can be difficult. My next set of paintings are of my nephews and nieces. I can bribe them easy. Maybe the forum can help you solve some of the technical problems with realizing your subject matter.

Just keep painting.

MeganS

To dry a gallery wrapped painting, I put push pins on the bottom. Next time, if I do my P's (Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance), I'll put wood on the frame so that I can carry it wet too.

MeganS

@MikeO‌ Yes, shooting RAW. Hubby steered me in that direction long ago. Then David told us at workshop, oh probably, sixteen times?

MeganS

I'm putting it back on my easel. I color corrected the photo of the boy and I'm going to fix it.

Rtaeger

Hi Megan,
Your painting (which I really like) and the discussion around it has convinced me not to throw in the towel on a beach sunset painting that I am currently working on. It is my first such scene and I have found it very frustrating causing me to toss and turn at night about it. But this this discussion reminded me of a saying I heard, namely: "Painting is a continuous process of correcting mistakes and refinement". Hopefully when we are painting a similar scene for the fifthied time it will come a lot easier. Ralph

MeganS

@Rtaeger‌ Cheers, Ralph. I hope so too! With practice, I hope to gain confidence; that if I make a mistake, it's okay because I know I can fix it. Right now, I'm not quite there yet even though my past experience has told me otherwise. Every time I went back to fix something that bothers me, it has turned out better than before. I hope you finish that sunset painting.

Ronna

Wow! Definitely do more water scenes.

MeganS

I fixed it the best I could. Leo is remixed and painted. I do think it's an improvement. This photo is a better indicator as the true color. The photo above is a bit dark. What do you think?

Martin_J_Crane

Great job!

ebs

Love the way you've painted the waves!

tassieguy

You've really captured the colour and movement on the sea.
I love it.