Touch of fall

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Comment by Susan Burke on June 21, 2015 at 12:36

Nice brushwork in the trees!

Comment by Ramya on June 20, 2015 at 10:39

wow,great points Michael,thanks for sharing these invaluable pointers.I will try my best to desaturate the colors and gray the colors :) Happy weekend

Comment by Michael J. Severin on June 20, 2015 at 10:33

All you artists out there in The Complete Artist land .........save your high saturated, out of the tube,  yellows, oranges, and reds for painting flowers, or bright yellow or red hats....and then use restraint on that. :)  If you want intense color, surround it with less intense color,  If you want high value, intense color ..then surround it with low value, less intense color.  If you want to make something very bright ..do not try to keep making it bright by adding tons of white ..it will only make it chalky.  Instead, to make something very bright, surround it with something very dark ..think the other way sometimes.  If you are painting a red awning on a building and you want it to sing ...it will not sing if you just pile on red paint out of the tube ...you must surround it with dull greens or violets.  Same thing if you want to darken something ..don't keep painting it darker and darker, surround it with something lighter ..it will look dark enough. 

Comment by Michael J. Severin on June 20, 2015 at 10:20

I am happy I could help Ramya! ...May I suggest that if you are going to re paint this, then scrape this painting down to a ghost image.  Then draw in your new composition with uneven masses and more sky space.  The ghost image colors will peak through and give you nice color vibrations under your top painting.  ...Happy painting!!!!

Comment by Ramya on June 20, 2015 at 9:21

wow Thanks so much for a detailed critique  Michael,so kind of you.

I think I will re do it ,also since I take the pictures with iPhone it adds more light / color and makes it look more saturated.

Radiating lines format  - I never knew that I composed like that,thanks again.

You are right on that I focused more on color then value , the mistake that I make million of times.

I will re do this one and post.

a million thanks Michael :)

Comment by Michael J. Severin on June 20, 2015 at 9:15

Hi Ramya.  You have the beginnings of a successful painting.  Let's talk about your composition first:  Your composition consists of a radiating lines format ..good!   The road leads us into the picture toward your focal point, the golden tree.  But what you have here are 2 equal masses .the left group of trees and the right group of trees.  In composition, think of a large mass, medium mass, and a small mass....avoid equal masses.  You need to establish where you light source is coming from. Also, in composition think of a Foreground, middle ground, and background ..3 planes.   Okay, on to color:  Your golden tree is vibrant with high saturated color .. a little unnatural.  Unfortunately, so is everything else.  All of your elements are painted with a high saturated color .which fights with your focal point for attention.  You must desaturate those greens and red road ....to desaturate a green, use either red or violet.  When you have grays surrounding that yellow tree, then you can use grayer or duller versions of yellows and oranges because the gray will intensify your higher color notes.  You were forced to paint that tree with such a high chroma  because you were forced to out fight the high chroma of the greens.  Okay, on to value:  You are thinking color before value.  Try planning your painting using 4 values:  a dark, a mid dark, a mid light, and a light.  These value differences will give you the 3 planes I was talking about earlier, They will also move you back into the painting and create more form.  So, I would suggest that you paint into the left tree mass with your sky ..open up that back a little more so you can paint a 3rd plane ..possibly distant trees or a distant mountain?  Then establish your light source and stick with it ..which direction is it coming from? ..Darken and gray the greens in the foreground.  Tone down the autumn tree by painting some violets into your yellows ..also add some gray greens into it.  Tone your road down and throw some streaks of sunlight hitting it .Anyway, you might need to do some thumbnails to establish your composition and values ....hope that helps..