Went to a collector in Key West! thanks b.w. 
Low Tide Reflection-16x20-revised version
(bounce up and down from the image below to see the differences)
revised and improved this painting from my last post. i put more cool colors in the the mud to reflect more of the sky and make it look wetter. also added alot of broken color to the large shapes and seperated the marsh grass from the reflection with wisps of reeds, darker tree reflection in water, and then put more emphasized streaks in the reflection to make it look more like water. also got rid of that oversize house in the distant tree line, replacing it with one that normal size people live in, not giants 12 feet tall :). also lightened and blued the distant tree line to give more atmosphere and aerial perspective.
Working on the piece in the studio some is the trick i think. when youre painting outside in that two hour session youre in the equivalent of a fire fight in war. you need to get back to the studio where the bullets arent flying and bombs going off, sit down with an iced tea, play a tune or two on your ukelele (or put on your fave Pandora radio station), chill, and then get up and look at the painting critically. what areas arent making sense, or look rushed? which shapes are too repetitive? and in some cases, do you have single dwelling homes the size of an office building? a tip: changing the color of something while keeping the same value breaks one object out from another without nullifying your on site observations about value.
out there when the winds knocking down your umbrella, the no-see-ums are gorging their microscopic bellies on your flesh, and people are asking what you are doing (duh! ive got a painting on the easel and a brush in my hand-could be i'm waterskiing?) there is no time for the quiet, sophisticated tweaking i'm enjoying doing at the end of the "war" with the painting. any painter worth his salt will tell you its like wrestling the paint and canvas into submission. trying to wrestle it into looking like the thing they have in their mind for the thing. another reason paintings ain't (and shouldnt be) cheap!
4 comments:
I really like all the nice colors in these paintings.
I like your comment about why paintings "shouldn't be cheap." Everyone thinks that being an artist is a special "gift" and therefore easy. It's more like getting a wild alligator for your birthday. I enjoy your posts. Thanks.
Thanks Mike. I liked it before and I love it now. Thanks for the commentary too; I always learn from you.
-Christine
i think going to some larger paintings is a great idea, i know it works well in my studio, people love to look at them , but in most cases they will buy something smaller.
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