Rush Creek2, Novato

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Comment by Laura Xu on July 25, 2014 at 10:21

I just attached the modified version under the comment area based on Stu and Ann's comments. Hopefully it fixed the lead in problem.

Comment by Laura Xu on July 25, 2014 at 10:17

Comment by Laura Xu on July 25, 2014 at 8:15

Stu, this is great experience and advanture too. Thank you for sharing! Also Stu, you can write your painting journey story that will be very valuable.

Ann, I always enjoy your sense of humor!

Comment by Ann Turner on July 25, 2014 at 7:52

Thanks for sharing Stu. Your fence is great ! Nice variety of color and shape in those posts and as JV would say "nice melodic line " formed by the fence top wire. I also am enjoying the hidden little things, suggestion of overpass and small houses, condos on the hill. I think you are addicted to getting out to paint and Laura has caught the fever

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on July 25, 2014 at 6:13

Laura, none of my plein air paintings on on my website and you are right, it does need updating very badly.   It is really helpful when you are painting outdoors to really check out the site before you start painting.   I have gotten into poison oak and poison ivy (Vermont),  tripped over tree roots that I hadn't seen, had the sun come right onto my canvas, had the tide come up to my feet and I have picked spots where I can't move around.   An extra 5 minutes spent finding the right spot is really worth it.  I always look for shelter and shade first and then check out the view I will get, but before I get to set, I look at the vegetation and ground around me.     This stuff you learn as you do more plein air painting.    Stu

Comment by Laura Xu on July 25, 2014 at 4:53

Wow... Stu, I haven't seen this before. It is so nicely done but it didn't in your webpage I mean FASO page. Btw, I went to your site just yesterday again, it is time for you to update it. This one should be your private collection as you invested too much on it. We should move around every 30mins when we were painting. It is good to ourself and painting.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on July 25, 2014 at 4:35

Laura, the mountain is Mt. Burdell.   Here is a plein air piece I did from the same spot in October, 2012.   You can see the fence posts and grass that I put in attempting to have some vertical elements and add interest to the foreground.   To paint this one, I had to stand on a steep hillside on the other side of the trail for several hours and had a lot of trouble moving around because of the steepness of the hill.  I do not recommend painting from a spot like this; my knees just ached for months after that because I think I injured both medial meniscuses by standing on a steep downhill slope for so long and not moving around.  Here's the painting:

Comment by Laura Xu on July 25, 2014 at 4:28

Thank you all my friends viewed the painting Richard, Hyun, Betsy, Stu, Ann!

Stu and Ann, Thank you for the detailed analisys and great suggestions. The most close view plane is shallow water which looks like land now. I may put some tall grass there fence. Actually there are some fence around the area. I will look into it!

Stu, what is the name of the mountain? you told me when we were there.

 

Comment by Ann Turner on July 25, 2014 at 3:44

Nice color combinations Laura ! Your composition has stripes of color going across the painting, green/brown grass, purpelie/blue water and warm golden land. It need something to break up the bands of color to get the eye to move up in the painting and not across and out. I agree with Stu that these horizontal elements need to be broken up. Easier said than done when mother nature provides horizontal stripes ! You have captured the feeling of the place, nice open quiet space.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on July 25, 2014 at 0:20

Nicely done Laura. You could use some vertical objects in the foreground (bushes, fence posts, trees, etc) to add some visual interest. The painting is very serene. Nice color harmony. Stu

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