Ribbons of Nature Mark 2

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Comment by Dorian Aronson on February 15, 2012 at 21:34

Oh Diane

This is oh so beautiful.........dor:))

Comment by diane boucher on November 12, 2011 at 14:39

Thank you so much Richard for your critique. I will now go study my painting and my printed copy of the critique.I   can totally see the mistakes you point out now I will see if I can FIX them :):) 

Comment by Richard Robinson on November 11, 2011 at 22:26

Hi Diane, thanks for your painting, here's a wee critique for you:

 

Design

I always find it instructive to compare the painting side by side with the resource photo when I'm critiquing it, but I also often view the painting by itself because that's how a painting is seen by everyone else and it must stand on its own. In this case the design is very similar to the photo which was quite strong to begin with so I don't see any problems there - it's a very interesting dynamic design. You have made the bottom left quarter more diverse in its shapes and colorings which is a nice idea but its rendering isn't quite as convincing as the rest of the painting so I feel it becomes a bit of a blindspot for me - somewhere I don't really want to look for very long because it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, despite it being the main colour interest in the painting. Yes you have used interesting colour, brushwork and shape design there, but it looks to me like you weren't exactly sure what features you were painting some of the time (is it a tree, a shadow, a bush, a different species of grass, etc?) The result of indecision in painting is muddied colour and a lack of clear object definition. To be fair this corner is a very tricky area to contend with because there is so much detail it's hard to decide what to leave in and what to leave out.

 

Color

I'm immediately attracted to your subtle grayed colour scheme. We see hardly any pure spectrum colour in nature so for me I like to see this emulated well in a painting (at times). I like the way you've put your highest chroma yellow in the foreground and then grayed it leading into the midground. I also like the warmth you've introduced into the sky (although you could have reflected some of that in the river too). Two things I would have changed would be to introduce some more light into the shaft of darkness coming from the top left because it seems too dark to be that far away due to atmospheric perspective. I would have also pushed the distant mountains on the right further away by lightening and graying that green there. Another small thing is the yellow colour in the tree at bottom right doesn't make sense for that type of tree although compositionally I like that colour there but the rendering of that area could have been more convincing too. So much to think about!

 

Brushwork

I think your brushwork is really interesting in this piece - you've used a large brush, and small brush for just a few important details like the shadowed edge of the riverbed, and a palette knife in a few places to add more texture and even that nice shimmering light effect in the water - nice job! I encourage you to keep at it with this combo of mark makers - they make for a very interesting paint surface.

 

Realism

Overall it's a pretty convincing scene, especially from a distance. There are the few areas I've already mentioned detracting from that realism a little, plus a couple other things worth mentioning: You've drawn the base of the midground dark hill on the left incorrectly where it meets the river plain - it should be lower and separated from the base of the distant mountains. The very straight diagonal line within that same hillside could also be broken a little to make it look less manmade.

 

It's a very pleasing painting to spend time looking at with plenty to interest the eye and spirit, so I commend you for a good painting and hope this critique has helped a little.

 

Comment by Judy Hill on November 3, 2011 at 13:47

I love your composition, warm cool relationships, and brushwork.  The only thing that jumps out is the middle hillside on the left, maybe less value intensity???  The rest of your piece is very cohesive-I especially like your foreground, I am having trouble with that as usual!!!

BEAUTIFUL WORK,  JUDY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Comment by diane boucher on November 1, 2011 at 20:54

Thanks Ladies I am pleased this effort as so hard for me this loose brush work. I am realy enjoying the challenges it brings and can't wait to get the jobs done so I can "play" again with paint. I have so many canvas boards around my studio with limited value studies, mountains, glowing trees ect. ect I will have to clean it soon and get the white paint out to re-cover some of these boards to recycle them before it and I am lost under the mountain:):)

Comment by Hazel Persson on November 1, 2011 at 18:46

Very nice Diane

Comment by Annie Hemsley on November 1, 2011 at 13:11

Hi Dianne Its lovely and I think it works very well