"First Glimpse" (cropped)

16x16" Oil on Canvas
I'm afraid the resolution on this one isn't quite as good, but at least its cropped! Hopefully I will have a new computer before the next workshop and won't be dealing with unsupported software issues! This is such a fun learning format. Glad I could participate with all you fine artists!

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Comment by Kadee Hughes on May 28, 2015 at 18:13: Richard, Thank you for the critique!!! I agree I definitely need to work on graying down my colors. It is hard to do because when I mix a pretty color, I want to use it :) - but I don't want my paintings to look too cartoon-like. I also struggle a little with seeing value. It seems so easy in black and white but I get a little lost sometimes when color is clouding my "value vision". I appreciate all of your detailed advice. The first time I attempted a plein aire painting, I had just completed two of your instructional videos, grabbed my paints and headed down to the beach near my home in Spain. After making as faithful a representation as I could, I brought my piece back up the hill and was surprised when I got to the house at how bright my colors were. Still, it was a memorable day and a fun momento from our years in that beautiful country.
I plan to continue to work on this painting as I ran out of time to work on the rocks and add more details to the hills. I have never painted to a deadline before and actually found it very freeing. I was able to push through challenges I might have otherwise walked away from because I knew that if I wanted a shot at your random drawing painting I needed my painting to be finished- not necessarily perfect. Very motivating!! Anyway, it was a fun experience and I hope to be joining you in future workshops!

Comment by Richard Robinson on May 28, 2015 at 16:21: Hi Kadee, welcome to the group. Quite a striking painting you've made here with the contrast between the vibrant red and the gray greens in the ocean. I like the way you've compressed the image into a square format which has made the hills appear even steeper. You've grasped the idea of the glowing effect and the next step is to be a little more subtle with the colours. The yellows, oranges and reds could do with a little more gray in them, which you can do by adding the colour's complement, which is opposite it on the colour wheel. In general, our first paintings tend to be very bright and colourful and over time our colour sense develops greater subtlety. We can not only comprehend more subtle colour shifts in nature but we begin to be able to paint them. Yay! Just takes time.

Anyway, your drawing is very good, the grays are pretty good but the lights in your foreground sand could do with some variation. The distant hills should be the same value or darker than the ocean, not lighter. The cast shadow from the yellow section of the hill on the beach should not end with a dark line. Also, just have a look at the resource photo and see how close the colour of the hill is to the colour of the shadow. Very similar really.

Actually a lot of the colour problems in this painting could be solved by more carefully comparing one colour to another. Use the fuzzy one eye to help compare colours. Close one eye and make the other eye go out of focus so all you see is the big blurry shapes. Then compare colours that are similar. Ask yourself is it lighter or darker? Warmer or cooler? Grayer or more vibrant? That should help. Ok good luck and happy painting!

Use the fuzzy one eye to compare similar colours in a scene.

Comment by Kadee Hughes on May 26, 2015 at 17:49: Thank you Cristina, Dorian, and Ana. I know I have a long way to go and I appreciate the encouragement and the likes!