Matheson House #2

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Comment by Xiao Li on October 11, 2014 at 14:50

Hi Michael,  Thank you very much for a very good lesson.  I need to keep this in mind when I choose what to paint in plein air time.  It is the value structure that really matters, which I did not pay enough attention before. I will do better next time. Thank you :)!

Comment by Michael J. Severin on October 11, 2014 at 3:31

Cloudy days are fine Xiao ....but they still have darks.  If this is a cloudy day, you would have basically warm darks and cooler lights.  Your painting would still need those darks ...not shadows perhaps, but darks.  The lights in your painting would be cooler under a cloudy sky ...anyway, it is difficult to make things up ....I have a very hard time doing it myself.  When you paint plein air, look for subject matter that has a nice dark/light value pattern ..it will be there even on a cloudy day.  Then, observe what color is the light and observe what the light is doing when it touches everything.  Try to forget about "local color".  All these things are so difficult ..I have certainly not mastered them myself!! ...all we can do is keep at it.  :))

Comment by Xiao Li on October 11, 2014 at 3:03

Thank you so much for your critique Michael.  I agree with everything you said.  This was a plein air painting at first.  That was a cloudy day.  I have noticed the problem that I do not have the bright sunny day structure and I have tried to add some shadow (the one on the roof and some shadow on the lawn etc.), but because it was not real and I am terrible for making things up.  I can't make it believable.  I remember seeing a phase on a sundial said "I only tell of sunny hours".  May be I should follow that advice when I plan my plein air time " I only paint of the sunny hours" :)

Comment by Michael J. Severin on October 11, 2014 at 2:37

Hi Xiao.  The problem is that you do not have light and shadow ..no pattern of dark and light and no indication of your light source.  Since you do not have a dark/light pattern, you do not have a value structure.  You are trying to compose with just the elements ...trees, road, and barn......that will not work Xiao.  There is no sense of light without the darks ...that contrast must be set up.  What is happening is that you are painting ..THINGS ..everything is carefully rendered in its local color.   A source of light and shadows (darks) would make you happier about the painting!