This week i worked on getting some shapes into the water reflections in the “black canvas” painting.  Last week i just wanted to get the feel of the reflections.  But the reflections have to actually reflect what’s above.  So that was the goal today.  Partly reached. 

today in class (it’s Monday, so it’s Tracing class) i started working on both the fence and the barn.  The fence had been traced in a couple of weeks ago, but then painted over because the lines were so narrow that it would work better to retrace and repaint, which is what i did today.  It needs more work to bring it out more, but it’s at least know-able as a fence.  Painting the barn was fun, but a little confusing:  you may remember that the barn is reversed directionally from the photograph.  That means that the sides of the barn that are in sunlight and shadow are reversed in the painting, relative to the photo.  Confused?  So, it’s a beginning, with plenty more to do.

I just looked at the photo i posted last night and realized how overexposed it is.  I am attaching a new photo here which is more true to the actual hues i painted.  Comments, criticism, etc., welcome, as always.

for the past couple of weeks I’ve been working and reworking the boulders on the hillside and the trees.  The trees, especially, have been painted and repainted several times, to the point where i need a little break from them. I think I’ve finally figured out that one of the hang-ups I’ve had is paying too much attention to branches and trunks and not enough to just trying to get the foliage to work.

Meanwhile, i started this week on the reflections in the water.  I think the hues are ok for a beginning effort.  The shapes need a good bit of re-shaping, which I’ll attempt in the next few days.  

I worked at home this past week doing color mixing to see if i could match the colors the teacher was going to prescribe.  Brought the fruits of this work into class, with notes on what I’d tried.  My mixes for the sky were good; for the barn, pretty good; for the mountains too dark.  So got some assistance “fixing” that effort, and in class began painting, sky and clouds first.  Then moved down to the mountains.  All this represents just a first layer; I’ll be adding to it.  At the beginning of this class i asked Marianne if she was going to suggest i put a dark layer down on which i would then paint all the grasses.  She said yes, and suggested i use a “wash” (thin layer, paint watered down with mineral spirits) of Burnt Sienna.  As you can see, it isn’t all that even, but that won’t matter in the end.  Next week I’ll see about starting on those grasses, unless i decide to work on the barn.