beach value study_edited-1

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Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 8, 2016 at 0:58

Lori, just a thought, but I mentioned that I liked the 2:1 ratio you did on the study. ... but that might not leave room for much of that beautiful sky ...a decision you will need to make in your many thumbnails you will be trying out.  When planning., your decision making will be based on what was important to you and then emphasize that .... easy. Uh?

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 8, 2016 at 0:48

When you do your thumbnails, do a variety of versions ..I like the 1:2 ratio you did on your study.  Anyway, try different positions of your horizon line.  Suggestion:  grid your drawing with 2 vertical lines and 2 horizontal lines .... all of them at the 1/3 points .. so you have a tic tac toe grid .  Where the lines intersect will be sweet spots .. 4 of them.  The bottom left point will be where you might want to put your focal point (highlight sand dune).  Indicate that first on your thumbnail, then work out from there.  It is kind of easier to work out from your focal point when planning.

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 7, 2016 at 16:35

Wow..thank you for your thoughtful input Michael! I will work out the thumbnails and post them!! I'm really looking forward to this process:))

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 7, 2016 at 11:39

Lori, I reached my word limit ... I have just a few more comments.  That half tone light would be:  White, violet, and yellow/orange.  Please do a few thumbnails and post them ... let us take a look.

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 7, 2016 at 11:37

Okay  .... excellent photo Lori .... this will be a great painting.  Number 1:  This is a high key painting ... your black and white is too dark.  Your darkest darks are really accents .. such as the dark fence post and upright planes of the waves.  The dominant dark value ...is a middle value dark .. which is represented by the beach and foreground shadows ... nothing will be darker except the accents.  Your lightest light will be the sand dune illuminated by the light.  2.  Your color scheme will be:  analogous Blue, Blue/Violet, and Violet ... these are your dominant colors of the shadowed sand, the ocean and top of the sky.  The sub dominant color is Yellow/orange.  3.  Composition:  In your sketch, you have everything in lateral bands ... this photo shows the foreground at a very distinct angle, the beach line and first wave at a slightly less angle, and the last waves at a less angle.  If you put another set of waves in the back, they would be straight.   Now, you also have those great shadows in the foreground that have a very acute angle which leads you right to the focal point .. the highligted sand dune.  That sand dune is your light light .. along with that one pole.  Lori, that focal point must be moved over to the sweet spot thought ... not over there at the edge ... so do some thumbnails and post so I can see them ..well so everyone can see them.  This is very, very important!! ... your shadows on the foreground sand will be a more of a violet .. progressing to violet and blue/violet on the beach ..(you will also be putting in some warm tones of your Yellow/Orange.)  The ocean will be blue, Blue/violet, and violet .. again with some warm notes. The sky is obvious ... begin with your blue at the top, work your way down in colored bands to blue/violet, violet, then to a light yellow/orange, and finally that darker yellow/orange near the horizon.  The color of the sunlit sand will be yellow/orange .... you will probably paint some cool notes into that broken color style.  The orange/green grass is mixtures of yellow/orange and any of your blues + maybe some violet.  Your darker green grass is yellow/orange INTO one of your blues in your color scheme.  BTW, the sky colors I mentioned depends on how MUCH sky you show.  If you only have a little sky, then it would begin lower on that color progression I talked about.  The highlights on the waves would be white and yellow/orange.  BTW, I neglected to mention the use of white in some of those mixtures, but use it to lighten your values.  the greenish/blue part of the upright waves is:  Blue + a little yellow/orange .. no white .... you want that transparent!!!  Paint the little waves in last using blue/violet and a little yellow/orange.  4.  Value Range.  Your values should range from value 5 for the foreground shadow, value 6 for the beach in shadow, value 7 to 7.5 (near horizon) for the ocean, value 8 to 8.5 for the sky, value 9 for the sunlit sand, and  value 8.5 for the waves.  The most important things is to get your composition correct ... make sure you put that sunlit dune into the correct spot ..BTW, you want a high horizon ... make sure that small patch of sunlit grass just over the dune is situated more to the right .. this will provide balance .  Have some wet sand down by the water edge so we can get some nice sky reflections into the sand.  Make a meandering inlet of pooling water come up behind the focal point ...you would then enter the painting from the dune on the right, move to the left to the focal point, then follow the stream of pooled water back to the wet sand and up to the large splash ... which you will make a little larger.   That half tone light on the foreground sand has a lot of violet in it ... it is still the light though ...

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 7, 2016 at 9:11

Ha!! We shall see..the color version is so pretty and I've butchered it in grayscale!! Just trying to figure out how to address it compositionally ..I'd enlarged the left dune thinking I could connect the dark post to the dark underside of the wave and opened the fencing to allegations w the viewer entry..I went too close with the dunes and clearly too dark with the values!! Lol..usually my values aren't dark enough!

Comment by Silvana M Albano on August 7, 2016 at 9:05

I'm eager to see your painting in colour (different from B&W!!!

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 7, 2016 at 1:14

Sure thing! I probably have the values too dark!

Here's the original photo.

Comment by Michael J. Severin on August 6, 2016 at 17:19

Hi Lori.  You need to rethink your composition ... we could get a better handle on your composition if you post the reference photo.  Also, I am curious as to why the sand (beach) is such a dark value ..is it in cloud shadow? Anyway, if you post a reference photo, I can give you a more knowledgeable assessment.

Comment by Lori Ippolito on August 6, 2016 at 9:16

Thx Jon! I appreciate your input! I think I may need to lower/ reduce size of the one dune-- I'm thinking of widening the gap between the dunes as well. Also thought I might need a seagull or sand chair on the beach to draw the viewer in... Orrrrrr maybe I need a different painting! Lol-- I think I can try making the waves less stripey.

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