Yosemite Workshop

Began this planning to use acrylics just as an underpainting, but continued with them. Interesting to see the differences after painting with oils for so long. Much easier to get clean colour & to go over areas, but getting soft edges is more difficult. Fun experience!
13.5" x 13.5"

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Comment by Michael J. Severin on May 28, 2016 at 3:20: Hey Jessica, pretty good! I was going to comment about all the hard edges .. until I read your comments about using acrylic. Anyway, I think you handled the values very well. I like your warm reflected light in those rocks!! The transition between the tree glow land the background is a little abrupt .. but I know that is the acrylic. Now, here is one thing that transcends both mediums ...contrast. Jessica, we are always looking for different types of contrasts in a painting ...contrasts (all kinds) are the driving force in a composition. We all are aware of obvious contrasts like light against dark, warm/cool, etc. But this scene has a not so obvious contrast that needs to be exploited in your composition. The dominant directional lines in this scene are diagonal, hard, and somewhat jagged. We need to have a contrasting (a sub dominant) force or else your dominance becomes overwhelming. In your case, that contrasting element is ...Half Dome. You have made it too angular and jagged ..too much like the rocks ..your dominant direction. Half Dome is more of a curved line with less angles .. and the atmosphere would give it softer edges. This is the perfect foil for the dominant angular lines in your composition. Anyway, something to think about for future works. :)

Comment by Jessica Futerman on May 27, 2016 at 22:50: Thanks George, Cristina, Jon & Denis for your lovely comments! Jon, yes more leaves is a good suggestions - thanks!

Comment by DENIS KING on May 27, 2016 at 20:41: Well done with acrylics Jessica.

Comment by Jon Main on May 27, 2016 at 4:34: We seem to be using the same approach a bit with the acylics, Jessica. Your background is stunning - maybe you could have more leaves on the tree????

Comment by Cristina Mihailescu on May 27, 2016 at 0:56: Beautifully done Jessica! Ha, nice.. you switched to acrylics and I switched to oils for this workshop. :-)

Cool and fun experience for me, too.

Cheers!