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"Keyhole Point"
Gary
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I finished this landscape a few days ago. Although I've shared it with of few of my painting friends who are also members of this new forum, I thought I'd post it as encouragement to others to start sharing their paintings. I have two big issues when I paint landscapes. The first is I tend to over saturate the colors in general which leads to my second issue - getting the proper amount of color recession to help create depth. Although I have a very long way to go, I'm improving thanks to the support and constructive comments by my painting friends.....an important aspect of this forum for me. I think we can encourage and help each other improve by posting our work. This can be a tough thing to do especially for folks who have just started to paint - I learned to paint using Mark's earlier videos and have been painting for 21 months. This particular painting is of a section of the beautiful rocky coastline in central California, a few miles south of Carmel. The little piece of orange paint just above the center of the painting at the base of the middle ridge (point) of rocks and just above the water line is the 'keyhole'. Its a section of rock which has been eroded through to a small inlet on the other side which allows light into the keyhole later in the afternoon. In order to improve, what could I have done better?
Comments
I can only speak from personal experience. Anyone who knows me is aware that every so many months I go through the "I want to do something else but realism phase" and disappear only to return to Mark's method LOL.
This is how I judge a painting in my little brain - it does not make it right. It's just how I perceive it....
Any painting whether it's painted in a style of representational, impressionistic or realism - it's always about the scene. The colors, the values, the brushwork in my judgement all have to work together without one over taking the other. When I look at a painting if all I see is heavy impasto for example, if my brain has to work hard to bypass all the textures to figure out what I'm looking at - then in my opinion, the painting has failed. Same goes for exaggerated color or extreme lights and darks or lack of. Just like composition, it's a delicate balance.
This is my problem....
When I venture from Mark's method and I do not have a clear vision as to where I am going sort of - grab brushes and paint to 'do my own thing' - I start overcompensating either with the color or the darks/ lights in the painting.
That takes lots of experience and years and miles and miles of canvas. For only a few, it comes naturally. But for most of us, it does not. It's a humbling experience to realize I can't do it all and that I'm NOT above instruction or someone else's knowledge and expertise.
So I take stock and take a hard look at my strengths and honestly examine my weaknesses. That's what I do.
I have commented on just about everyone of your paintings. I have noticed that you do tend to go high chroma. Maybe what you perceive as a fault might be a strength?
Look at the dead artist files on the net. Who were the high chroma painters and study how they pulled it off. Gauguin for example, there was a theory behind what he did and the colors and values he choose. He had a clear vision and learned how to incorporate that into his works. Learn from him. The art world views him as a master for a reason.
Maybe do a study of one of his paintings. If you find you hate it afterward, then go back to square one with Mark's approach. I'm going too. And now that I've written a small novel and bored everyone to tears, I'm outta here!
Part of the problem you have mentioned may also be monitors and not knowing what someone else is seeing. I have three monitors. One I can, and do, calibrate and the pictures are very close to the painting. My other monitor and my laptop screen cannot be calibrated. The uncalibrated monitor really displays the colors differently and looks very different from the painting. In the case of this particular painting, the lower left reds and oranges are very bright and look to have little to no grey at all. On my laptop monitor, the lower left looks to have a lot of greenish yellow - go figure! All three monitors however do about the same job at displaying the upper half of the picture...this I don't understand.
Again, thanks for your constructive feedback, it's much appreciated.
Talk about high chroma! That's exactly my problem as well.
You've got great advice from everyone and it was interesting to read and helpful for me as well.
So I will just tell you what I think about your painting.
I absolutly love the upper part and the water, I especially love that tree shape on the upper corner and the different greens + that dark color.
The water color and your brushwork is beautiful.
Despite of the strong orange it's a fantastic landscape!
I love what is there, but my mind, my eye, keeps drifting to the right and wondering what lies beyond the right edge of the picture.
When I look at your website and see the work as a whole
garyhillpaintings.blogspot.com/
It's all truly beautiful. REad the comments here. What you do naturally is quite beautiful. I think you are trying to cover it up with some Scott's color theory.
I look at the master's of color. To me it's like music. When Mozart composed his music, the notes were meant to be hit at a precise moment for the music to be the way he intended. That's why not everyone can play Mozart. You just can't play the notes.
Gauguin's work - especially that one painting I sent you? You are hitting his notes so to speak without knowing it. His color - the exact chroma and value over and over again. He worked those exact tones for a reason. I know so many painters that struggle to get those colors and can't. Your hitting his colors time and again, not all in the same painting, but you are hitting them. I honestly wish you would explore his work.
Myc noticed the orange. I think cause of the intensity, Gauguin didn't use complimentary color schemes -more analogous. CharlieBoy's observation about Picasso is great.
Us Yanks aren't exposed to art the way the Europeans are. I sure wish you'd explore Gauguin. And with that I'll shut up about it:-)