River's Edge, 12 x 9 inches, oil on linenI noticed that this past Saturday the Sacramento Plein Air Meet Up group was painting at Ancil Hoffman Park. As it was not too far from my home, and I had a few hours of reprieve from parent duty, I decided to join them. I did this little sketch of the river's edge.
My set up was in full sun, so I expected to compensate for the harsh light but forgot about it as soon as I started the painting. I'm not sure how the sun light on my canvas and palette affected my painting exactly (typically, it would result in a too-dark painting), but I had a good time, and that's about all I can hope for, when I'm out of practice.
Although in my workshops I stress a clear focal point, I have been experimenting lately with a subtler, more... dare I say it?...ambiguous... structure. In reality, there was quite a bit of value difference between the water and the land mass, which I chose to downplay. I also increased the amount of atmosphere in the background - again, in reality, there were punchy values way in the distance too.
What I wanted was to draw the eye to the foreground activity. To a single, specific area, but do it in such a way that it wasn't hit-the-viewer-over-the head obviousness. My strategy then, was to increase value contrasts, color contrasts, color saturation, and sharpness of edges gradually as we neared a specific point.
Now, you're wondering, what specific point? And you'd be right. When I look at the digital image, I think the same thing. When I was looking at the wet panel, I thought, hey, not too bad! Subtle, but it's there!! Now that it's dry and photographed, I'm thinking, too subtle. point doesn't come across. But hey, trial and error, baby! I'll see if I can bring this thing back by punching the focal area a little bit. I still like this little sketch.
Oh, by the way, I've already got more than thirty orders for my little demo booklet. Thank you so much for your support and interest!!! I'm tickled Carthamus Pink! It looks like I have to order a bunch more. I might even break even hahaha~
My set up was in full sun, so I expected to compensate for the harsh light but forgot about it as soon as I started the painting. I'm not sure how the sun light on my canvas and palette affected my painting exactly (typically, it would result in a too-dark painting), but I had a good time, and that's about all I can hope for, when I'm out of practice.
Although in my workshops I stress a clear focal point, I have been experimenting lately with a subtler, more... dare I say it?...ambiguous... structure. In reality, there was quite a bit of value difference between the water and the land mass, which I chose to downplay. I also increased the amount of atmosphere in the background - again, in reality, there were punchy values way in the distance too.
What I wanted was to draw the eye to the foreground activity. To a single, specific area, but do it in such a way that it wasn't hit-the-viewer-over-the head obviousness. My strategy then, was to increase value contrasts, color contrasts, color saturation, and sharpness of edges gradually as we neared a specific point.
Now, you're wondering, what specific point? And you'd be right. When I look at the digital image, I think the same thing. When I was looking at the wet panel, I thought, hey, not too bad! Subtle, but it's there!! Now that it's dry and photographed, I'm thinking, too subtle. point doesn't come across. But hey, trial and error, baby! I'll see if I can bring this thing back by punching the focal area a little bit. I still like this little sketch.
Oh, by the way, I've already got more than thirty orders for my little demo booklet. Thank you so much for your support and interest!!! I'm tickled Carthamus Pink! It looks like I have to order a bunch more. I might even break even hahaha~
2 comments:
You, sir, are a bad@ss. Love your "little sketch". It has a wonderful tapestry of colors.
Great job.
LOL @ bad@ss. Don't know about that, but thanks :-)
I ought to cultivate the image and sport an attitude. Maybe a signature outfit...
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