Pah Beach 2a

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Comment by Matt Sisk on December 25, 2011 at 5:51

Great job Nancy! 

Comment by Nancy Sands on December 24, 2011 at 14:16

Thank you Casey, Susie, Vida, and Gambetta for you kind comments.  And you also, Stu.  I really appreciated your helpful suggestions and tried to make adjustments.

Comment by Nancy Sands on December 24, 2011 at 14:05

Richard!  I am so excited to have this difficult painting critiqued.  I had a some time last night and worked a little on applying some of your inciteful suggestions.  I could not believe how the whole balance of the painting changed by extending that tree into the left and eliminating that patch of sky.  Somehow, it just felt more comfortable.  Also, I added some detail to the foliage on the trees, and tried to put color highlights on the dark rocks on the right.  You are so right that the tree trunks look like some old droopy celery stalks.  I looked at another of your photos and tried to make them look more like the Pohutukawa tree.  Hitting the main light areas with globs of paint is something I'm a bit apprehensive about.  I'm not quite sure where to place the paint nor how  light it should be without drawing too much attention to those spots.  I guess that comes with a bit of bravery and practice.  I need to revisit that painting once again.  When it is finished, I will put it in the gallery.  Thank you so very much for taking the time to critique my painting.  Your objective and educated observations are incredibly helpful to all of us.

Comment by Gambetta Brehmer on December 24, 2011 at 12:17

Very nice, Nancy
-g

Comment by Vida Evenson on December 23, 2011 at 20:19

Quite lovely Nancy.... 

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on December 23, 2011 at 11:35

Great job Nancy. Stu

Comment by Richard Robinson on December 23, 2011 at 9:02

Thanks for your painting Nancy, here are some thoughts on it:

Design

Your design is very nicely balanced and that sinuous shadow leading in from the bottom left is nicely done, giving the foreground a sense of undulating form as well. I would have been tempted to extend the tree over into the left hand corner as presently it seems a little unbalanced to the right. That corner of sky does little for the design - in fact it draws the eye away from the centre of interest without much reward so in my eyes it’s better to subdue and simplify it.

Colour

Your lights are carrying most of the colour and it’s beautifully rich and vivid. There’s very little colour in your darks however, which is a symptom of painting from photos and does provide a slightly punchier image with it’s higher contrast but misses out on the opportunity to have more colour in the painting and a truer sense of reflected light within the scene. The only way to get any better at this is to paint from life to gain a better understanding of light and colour, but you’ve done well with the resource photos provided.

Brushwork

I’m enjoying your brushwork in this piece - it’s pretty bold and to the point with a nice balance between large and small brushwork. There are a few overworked and scumbled areas which could have been more freshly dealt with but on the whole you’ve created an interesting paint surface with plenty of movement. Some of the tree foliage looks a tad chunky and the trunks could have done with some closer inspection of the actual forms in the photo - they look a bit more like celery than Pohutukawa tree. Also, something I often like to do at the end of a painting is to revisit the main light areas or interest areas and hit them with some really juicy gobs of paint either with a brush or palette knife, just to give it a bit more dynamism. You might like to try that out.

Realism

This rates pretty well for realism because although you’ve simplifed the scene and pushed the colour a little (both things I like to do) you’ve not strayed too far from the resource photo and where you have made changes like pushing the distant hills backwards with atmospheric perspective you’ve shown enough understanding to keep it looking credible, so, good job. I am also pleased to see you using the infused light effect in the blue edges of the tree and the cliff on the right - subtle touches which with practice makes for paintings that really glow with light.

Hope that helps some.

R.

Comment by susie gregory on December 22, 2011 at 1:50

lovely!!!!

Comment by Casey Toussaint on December 21, 2011 at 22:53

Nice!