LJ and NJ

Thank you,  Mimi and Tandy, for your comments.  It occurred to me that maybe i should clarify what i have been thinking about with all those birds in various places on the rocks.  You are correct that in the original reference photo, the rocks are very dark and the only birds i saw when i first saw the photo were the ones in silhouette on top.  what happened was that when i took the photo into class when i was preparing the canvas to begin the painting, my teacher and another colleague said they didn’t like the big dark rock — thought it hit the viewer kind of in the face.  So i decided to lighten up the rock.I figured that would give me an opportunity to practice painting rocks. (Also changed some other features from the original).  Anyhow, when i lightened up the photo i saw there were birds there i’d Never even noticed in the first place.  Now, after all this, i might revert back to the original, having learned plenty in getting to this place. Attaching here the lighter photo — it’s not the whole picture, but i think you can see what i’m Talking about.

Between last week’s post and today this painting has undergone several iterations of birds.  I darkened the light areas of the gulls so they wouldn’t stand out so much.  Also moved a few around as well as adding more.  Added more cormorants, as well as a couple of gulls, to the top of the rock, and am attempting to keep them in silhouette.

One (maybe minor?) issue that emerged is that the dark feathers on the backs of the gulls which are down in the rocks blends in with the background rocks, so you can’t see where the bird ends and the rock begins, and vice versa.  I have not quite figured out what to do about this.  On the one hand, i don’t want to lighten up the rocks too much because that won’t look correct.  On the other hand, i need to keep contrast between the light and dark parts of those birds. And if i lighten up the light areas those birds may once again become focus, which i do not want.  And while I am at it, i am considering deleting all the birds except the ones atop the rocks.  Open to suggestions!!

I worked on the water some more over the past few weeks.  Then decided to leave it alone for a while and try to make a start on the birds.  Haven’t had class so i haven’t had teacher feedback.  What i am posting today is beginning effort to figure out those birds.  I’ll post below three photos. these are this week’s effort – so far — all are obviously preliminary! So — The top photo below was my initial effort.  realized belatedly that the raptors were not properly set in the rocks — i.e. they should be on the top of the rock; and below the horizon line.  In the second photo i have removed that guy and begun, with an outline, a hopefully more realistic bird (now on the left).  I am aware that the gulls look too prominent because their white is too white.  But i am waiting to tone them down till i get them all painted in — there will be several more.  There will also be additional raptors.  They look dull – opposite problem from that of the gulls — partly because i was painting over a repainted sky and partly (i speculate) because the mix i used to make black had transparent paint colors.

During the past week i worked more on the wavy water; repainted the upper calm water; and repainted the sky. (The photo does not capture the brightness and new colors very well.  ‘Next time will try to get more “true” photo.)  Today had class and teacher thought i’d Done enough on those waves to be able to begin to add foam.  First did a glaze on the water to soften some of those countless lines.  then started on the foam.  What fun: all the effort it took me to get to this point seems like ancient history.

I worked on the “squiggly lines” approach to making the waves but had a lot of difficulty getting an idea of the big picture.  So in class asked teacher to demonstrate making waves from squiggly lines.  Interestingly enough, he painted in very short order some lovely waves, but i didn’t see him doing it using squiggly wormy lines.  However, i did get a bit of a better idea about how to go about the challenge.  Lines, ok: wavy lines, ok; wavy lines that cross, ok.  but no worms.  Anyhow, have continued working on this area — from the left towards the center.  I attach photo of my progress, and also photo of teacher’s wave.

Note that teacher wants me to resist the temptation to add light foamy stuff on top of my waves till i’m Just about finished with the section.  He, however, did add foam to his   Little project!

 

During the past week i worked on rocks at home.  Today had class and teacher was willing to leave the rocks alone, and begin work on the waves.  (I’ll go back to the rocks on my own, but not today.) So first I tried to outline major large shapes in the water.  Then teacher wanted me to make lots of “worms” — squiggly shapes that would kind of follow the larger shapes that i had outlined.  Most of the lesson was focus on brush stroke.  I am used to holding the brush at about a 45 degree angle from the canvas.  Sometimes, as with painting clouds, i use an even more acute angle.  But today i was told for painting this water, hold the brush at a 90 degree angle from the canvas, and, using the long brush, stand back from the canvas.  This of course gave me even less control than usual.  Also, was to focus on continuously changing the degree of pressure on the brush.  The messy big wave in the middle is a result of me trying to demonstrate to teacher how i might do this on my own, without the “worms”.  Really bad idea — what you can see at this point is my beginning efforts to correct this error.  Live and learn!

I was not happy with the color of the water in this painting.  Tried several different ideas, but ended up then deciding none were going to work.  So over the past couple of weeks i’ve Worked with glazes, in an attempt to modulate the too-blue-too-green hue of the water.  i went through a process of adding three glazes over a span of 6 or 7 days.  Glaze was a very thinned mixture of walnut oil and a blue-grey mix.  The result is an improvement, and i think i will proceed with beginning to modulate the hues and start to paint in the waves.

Meanwhile, there’s that big rock.  So with that i’ve Been blocking in three or four basic values (with van dyke brown; burnt umber, and titanium white).  At this stage i am not trying to do any detail on the rocks; but just try to get the values sort of realistic.

I’ve avoided doing plein air painting for years because whenever i tried it i was very uncomfortable with how discombobulated i felt.  Turns out i didn’t have any of the right stuff for a good setup.  Norma got me new all-in-one easel and palette, and Bart got me a big special painting bag to hold everything.  These gifts arrived just in the last day, so tonight we took off to Barr Lake State Park to see how it all worked.  I set up my stuff overlooking the lake and painted whatever was in front of me.  Norma went off with her camera in search of large birds.  The results of my experiment are attached here.  Did this in about 1 1/2 hours.  Not the most novel subject, but i didn’t take time to really think about composition.  I was way excited to see how everything worked. And it worked great!  Such a difference, to have everything in one place and within easy reach.

Began work on a new painting — this one is from a photo Norma took when we were on vacation on Monhegan Island, Maine, in September.  This one features a colorful sky, a big dark rock, the ocean, and a group/flock of Cormorants.  I’ll attach below the original reference photo.  I decided for the painting i would decrease the size of the rock and increase the amount of ocean (and waves!).  At first i wasn’t sure this would work, so did some preliminary drawings and moving around of stuff (not shown here).  I think it’s going to work.  I”ll have to be careful about the size of the birds, but they will be the last thing i do in the painting.  So not worried about that — yet.  Worked today on sky and water.  Sky all wet on wet — trying to get a feel of a lot of blending.  Since there are no clouds it has to come together without seeming too stark.  The water color i know is “off”.  There are a few ways to fix that — haven’t decided yet how to do it.

Worked this week on trying to get the buildings to look better.  Then worked on the man in the boat.  Getting ready to be done with this one.  Will try to attach both photo of progress on this one and also photo of idea for next project.