Cliffs at Hahei

16 " x 16" Oil on Canvas

Thinking it might be possible to adapt the methods in Workshop 44 to a local scene, I found an old photo of these cliffs in the Coromandel district of New Zealand looking a bit like the bow of a ship projecting out to sea. This was taken in the morning so the light was in the opposite direction to that depicted and it was therefore a bit of a challenge to turn it all round through 180 degrees and get the light striking the foreground rocks.

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Comment by Richard Robinson on June 30, 2015 at 17:31: Beautiful work Denis. Bad photo though.

Comment by Nancy Sands on June 26, 2015 at 9:11: Good for you doing your own version of the workshop from a different scene. Lovely painting, Denis.

Comment by Ana Murza on June 24, 2015 at 14:05: I like your painting Denis, especially the bay area. Cheers!

Comment by Sharon Casavant on June 23, 2015 at 14:31: Wonderfully painted, I'm surprised you only have 8 likes! (although we are not supposed to be hitting the like button before the 23rd?)

Comment by DENIS KING on June 22, 2015 at 17:13: Thanks for all your comments. Yes Sharon I agree that rock should be more of an eye stopper and as you suggest some extra rocks might help.

Comment by Susan Burke on June 22, 2015 at 9:38: Denis, Wow!!! Great take on the workshop, love the light!

Comment by Pauline Le Merle on June 22, 2015 at 7:50: Nice that you did your own take on this Dennis, It's a lovely painting

Comment by George on June 22, 2015 at 7:49: beautiful atmosphere!

Comment by Sharon Bray on June 21, 2015 at 23:55: Hi Denis,

The rocky shore line and shadow is nicely done and it settles into the painting giving depth. Your glow has a nice warm touch to the left side of the cliffs. This is a very nice painting so I only have some thoughts you might see. I know photos of our paintings aren't exactly what you see in person. They tend to exaggerate some of the hard lines that aren't noticed when you view the real painting.

Nice directionality of objects drawing the eye to your focus cliff with the glowing sun light. I noticed the rock to the right of the cliff in the water is angled to the right drawing the eye away. Maybe add some little rocks to bring the angle back to the main area. It is such a small thing I hesitated to mention it. I'm looking at the horizon line and the values of the water, not sure what to suggest. I think the water needs to be a little varied with the values so it will give more atmospheric depth. The water on the shoreline is very nice with the blues and greens.

I find it difficult for me to paint from a photo of a place I have never been. Richard has mentioned many times on his DVD's, what he was seeing and how it made him feel about the places he has selected to paint. He brings that moment in time to life in his paintings. It helps me to hear about the experience and what was happening while he was painting.