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Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on January 23, 2013 at 6:40

If only our right brain had control of our paintbrush, instead of our leftbrain, our concepts would flow right onto the canvas in beautiful colors, but it doesn't.   Sometimes when I have ideas, I cover my dry painting with Saran (polyester kitchen food wrap) and paint on it.  I think put up the before and after photographs and see if I like it; if I do, I put some alkyd medium on the painting and paint into it; if I don't, I just pull of the Saran and try again.   Keep up the good work.  Stu

Comment by Jon Main on January 23, 2013 at 5:51

Thanks, Stu. I've got the Gurney book, by the way - very good. As I look at the two versioins of the painting side by side I get a lot of ideas...

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on January 22, 2013 at 6:32

Jon, all the impressionists struggled with this.  You can have strong value or you can have strong color.  It is very hard to have both.  Most of your color will be in the midvalue range, whereas your midlights and middarks will not show the color.  Since your tree trunks are backlit, they need to be in the middark range and your sky and sky reflections on the water will be in the midlight range, so they can only have subtle colors in them.  Keep at it.  Your other picture came out well.  James Gurney's book "Light and Color: A Guide for the Realistic Painter" may be of some help to you; it will be available through Amazon.  It really goes in depth into different lighting situations and their effect on color.   Stu

Comment by Jon Main on January 22, 2013 at 5:50

Yeah, thanks, got to rework/continue plugging away..

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on January 21, 2013 at 12:00

Jon, I think you went a little to far on this one after you took out the fence. Your trees need to be darker and cooler near the ground. You also need a little color in you distant objects. Tricky getting it just right, isn't it? Stu