Rainy Day somewhere where it rains alot.

Add a Comment

Comment by Catherine Spencer on September 4, 2013 at 18:26

Reid .. You've been holding out on me. This is good! And i like the fact that the perspective is a bit out-of-wack ... It makes it so interesting to look at. Great work!

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on August 17, 2013 at 4:51

Reid, well said.  If you don't have the book or video, check out George Allen Durkee's "Expressive Oil Painting".  Here's the web address for it http://www.northlightshop.com/expressive-oil-painting .  He is a friend and neighbor of Michael Severin on this site and shows you how to bend the perspective and color to create expressive paintings that depict your mood and tell your story.  There are downloads and DVDs of this as well.  Yes, oils are a bit more versatile because they dry more slowly, but acrylics work fine.  Still the easiest way that I find to paint city scapes is to layout my perspective lines on the canvas before slopping on paint.  In the studio, I use my photographic reference and draw lines on a black and white image from my laser printer and draw this on the canvas with pastel pencils.  Outdoors, I just draw my lines out and check out the angles by holding up a paintbrush at arms length and squinting at the scene.   Keep up the good work.   Stu

Comment by Reid Barton on August 17, 2013 at 4:28

Stu and Michael. Thank you guys so very much for commenting on this. I learned more about art and its intention with your conversation than I have reading a stack of books on the subject. So simple yet so large. The idea of intentionally "bending" or warping reality in order to help convey or push a feeling. I dislike rainy days immensely and feel as though everything is warped on them. The rain and fog skews perspective in a strange way (not literally but in my imagination it does.) Because the perspective is skewed in this painting, it creates tension. Similar to how I feel on a rainy day. I think this is what you are saying Michael. One of the ways to create tension is to skew reality or "often artists twist the perspective to create a mood." Brilliant!  I wish I did that on purpose. I was actually trying to do what Stu said, and just make a picture that was true in perspective. I knew it was all wacky as I was doing it but didn't have a clue how to fix it. Your simple (well maybe not so simple) suggestions are the ticket.The one about horizontal and vertical lines aligning with the side and top. Right on. And Michael's classic rules...amazing. I can do that! Well maybe after a hundred paintings. Yes, muting chroma is really tricky especially with acrylic. (OK, that may not be true but isn't oil more forgiving and plyable?) What's cool to me is that, (and this is the art lesson for the month) an artist must create with preconceived intention. A plan if you will. To create a mood on purpose. I never saw this painting as that - a cool twist of perspective used to create tension and mood. Even while using bright colours so it's not over the top and too obvious. I just was it the other way - the perspective is wacky. But Had I done this on purpose, it would to me, be closer to real art reflecting the artists intention or vision. Thank you guys both so much, I'm blown away at how I learned about technical and intentional art in a couple of comments. I've read a pile of books and Never got any of what you guys offered. You guys are awesome. Thanks. I was going to repaint it with the right perspective but I don't think I will. I won't take credit for skewing the perspective on purpose either. I'll just paint something else and try to do it on purpose. Cheers. (Sorry for the long winded comment back.) 

Comment by Michael Chomse on August 16, 2013 at 19:48

I agree with you, Stu.

Reid, in terms of classic perspective, this is out of line. Often artists twist the perspective to create a mood. You've succeeded there. As an exercise in linear perspective, as Stu has said, it's back to the drawing board. 

The classic rules of perspective are:

- decrease of the size of objects proportionally with distance

- muting of chroma with distance (this is complex)

- decrease of detail proportionally with distance

These are all spatial values. Getting them right in balance with the correct color and light (chroma, hue, value) will move your painting towards realism. Obviously, good drawing is key as well. Getting them right doesn't necessarily make a good piece of art.

All of those things are separate to mood and emotion. The mood and emotion in your piece appealed to me, making the skew perspective less problematic.

Getting everything balanced, according to how you want to do it, and still appealing to the heart of the viewer - that's art.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on August 16, 2013 at 18:43

Yeah, I see that, Michael. I got the idea from the text that some help with perspective was sought, especially with the text in the album tag. It's ok to distort it, as Michael knows, but if you want to portray it realistically, photos work well, as I said. The weather really has little to do with perspective, but a lot to do with color and light. Interesting composition. Stu

Comment by Michael Chomse on August 16, 2013 at 18:00

I love it. Especially the title. Really expressive.

Hey, Stu, don't you get a feeling of the looming weather, gray day, slick streets -  but the city fights back in a kind of bright, jazzy, offbeat way? This painting talks - with confidence.

This is dynamic. I really like it, Reid. Well done.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on August 16, 2013 at 16:25

No, don't read another book; but do take a photo of some buildings and draw some perspective lines.  Even with perspective, your buildings should have vertical lines that are more or less aligned with the sides of the canvas and horizontal lines that are more or less aligned with the top and bottom of the canvas.  Things should not look like they are falling over.   Try again and use a photo for your reference, you can draw out your lines on it and grid it off.   Photos don't lie very much about linear perspective unless you have an extreme closeup lens (approaching a fish eye lens).  
Stu