Lake Owens Sunrise Study

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Comment by Michael J. Severin on March 27, 2015 at 8:30

Stu, another great piece!  I would still like to see a little more warm/dark tones in the foreground.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on March 27, 2015 at 7:50

Thank you Jon and Pauline.  Pauline, this is a "dry lake" except during heavy snowmelt runoff from the Owen's River and a lot of the water upstream is diverted to the city of Los Angeles.   So it is really more of a bunch of puddles with the various puddles reflecting the sky.   It is so shallow that there are no ripples on it unless it is very windy.  The darker areas are really nonreflective land between the puddles.   But that being said, it would be a stronger painting if I decreased the number of puddles (i.e., shape simplification and value massing).  I believe that I will do that on my little study and look at the design again before taking it larger.   Thank you very much for your suggestion, because all the little shapes are a bit annoying to the eye.   I have several other photo references that I didn't use, so it shouldn't be too hard to improve the foreground design.

Comment by Pauline Le Merle on March 27, 2015 at 7:42

Hi Stu, This is a great piece of work,  I would only make one suggestion which would be to make your water look more like a mirror perhaps putting the cooler yellow of the sky right at the back of the lake where the mountains meet the water then coming forward with the lovely warm notes in your sky with the darkness of the mountains reflected also, just a vision, it might work! I really like it anyways :-}}

Comment by Jon Main on March 27, 2015 at 7:26

Lovely subtlety!

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on March 27, 2015 at 6:42

Thanks Thomas!  I am definitely going to take this larger with more detail.   Stu

Comment by Thomas Ruckstuhl on March 27, 2015 at 6:27

Wonderful light effect at the edge. A beautiful piece!

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