beach value study_edited-1

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Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 14, 2016 at 17:41

The water is bothering me--/ lol I should post to my computer and stare at it before posting here! Once I see it on screen all kinds of things jump out at me... On this that bit of water that looks like it's dead center and pointing at the fence seems wrong... Makes it look as though the beach is hilly.. I'm thinking I should extend the dune grasses to beyond the water line to get rid of that stripe of beach & add value 6 to that central waters edge so it looks more like wet sand there? Make sense?

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 14, 2016 at 16:02

it took me a while to get this started...i wasn't sure if i should add the highlit grass beyond the fence..looking forward to comments / critiques and moving forward to the painting!!

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 10, 2016 at 14:22

Good observation!! Now if I change the water as in # 5 I'll have to think about how that impacts it...I'm thinking the sky light will be reflected in the water...it will be different than in the source...I am not so great at making things up so will be looking at a lot of other photos

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 10, 2016 at 5:55

Hi Lori.  Here is one more point I would like to bring up, then I will leave you alone ....  I really don't know what is causing the shadow across the beach? ... but,  at some point there is no shadow and sunlight is on the scene.  It is difficult to tell exactly where the shadow ends .. at the edge of the ocean, or somewhere further out? ... but I am thinking that the shadow should maybe soften out as it nears the water on the right, but meld into the water on the left.  Notice that there is some streaks of sunlight down there on the far beach near the water ... maybe play that up so it balances out the sunlight in the foreground .. plus .. give you some interesting shapes down there on the far beach.   Anyway, the reason I mentioned that is because anything in the shadows will be cooler then in the sunlight ... you will need to take that into account when you get to the ocean shape.

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 10, 2016 at 2:40

:D it's so generous of you to share your time and knowledge Michael! You're an excellent teacher! Ok I've got my work laid out for me!! I'm going to review everything you've posted here and get busy! Many thanks my friend:))

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 10, 2016 at 0:16

That is what I see to ..plus .. I like the spacial relationships between the planes .. pleasing arrangement of the shapes.  BTW, study the foreground shadows carefully ... notice that there is a counter direction happening also ... that whole shadow pattern is a great design element and must be exploited in your painting.  Everything else in the painting will support that.  Remember Lori, that your value range will begin in the middle ... your foreground shadows being a value 5? ... everything else gets lighter .. with your focal point being the lightest.  Anything darker than value 5 .. Will be accents like the bottom of the fence posts, foliage interior shadows, and occlusion shadows.  Be sure to have your value chart next to your mixing area ..put it under a piece of glass or something you can put paint on and wipe off.  When you mix a color, put a dab on the value you are mixing .. squint ... if it disappears, then you have that value.  Stick with the color scheme I suggested, or use your own .. but don't be tempted to stray.  For instance, if you think you need a burnt sienna type color, don't reach for burnt sienna, mis it with your color scheme choices .. which in this case would be UB, AC, (violet) + yellow/orange .. your color scheme colors.  Pre mix your major color shapes .. you can always modify them .. bend them warm or cool later .. when you can easily see the relationships.  Yellow/orange is your compliment to the blues and violets in this scheme .. but don't just mix a pile yellow and orange ... mix a variety using ochre and Alizirin,  yellow and Alizirin,  and yellow and orange.  This is your sunlight color, so make sure a little goes into every color you mix.  Your shadow colors will be blue/violets, violets, maybe a hint of red/violet here and there??? Your yellow/orange will be what grays them.  You should probably mix a pile of  warm and cool gray .. Richard does this a lot on his videos.  Okay, finalize that design and paint a black and white study ..... using actual values .... then paint your painting using your study as your value guide.

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 9, 2016 at 20:43

Will do:) may I ask what it is about 5 that you like? To me it's the way the posts and the water lines each create diagonals that lead to the focal dune...and the post shadows as well.

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 9, 2016 at 16:25

Actually, I like 5, but with the dune shape of 1.

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 9, 2016 at 16:23

I think 5 is the best ... see what you can do with that.

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 9, 2016 at 16:02

in 6  I added some distant cliffs..not loving it - thought it would balance out the drawing..

7 a little better but that large dune reminds me of a sleeping tiger!

I am liking 8 a little more as I look at it on the screen - I decided to make the dune really pronounced-- the sticking point in this one is the water - i got rid of the sky completely..maybe a bit of seaweed bringing the eye back toward the dunes..ugh!!!!! tomorrow is another day! I'm determined to wait until I get the right composition!

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