Stream Along Hwy 58

9 X 12 oil. Painted from a photo I took a year ago. This stream was along the highway in Oregon on Willamette Pass.

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Comment by Michael J. Severin on May 27, 2014 at 2:21: Thanks Linda ..it sounded heavy handed and I apologize for that. :)

Comment by Ann Turner on May 26, 2014 at 18:39: I can see your love of color in your painting ! Great advice from Michael. He gave me the same advice regarding going out plein air to start small in my yard with painting a block. Well I did try it but with little joy. So I just keep painting what makes me happy and just know that I am improving but will probably not be a great artist but its fun to try. Be happy painting and paint what brings you joy ! Its that moment when you do the final touches and you take in a deep breath at the beauty that you hve created from a scrap of canvas and a dob of paint ! Painting should be happy therapy ! Enjoy!

Comment by Linda L. Kano on May 26, 2014 at 17:40: Really appreciate your input Michael. I will attempt to implement your suggestions in further paintings. Had one question about the initial glaze on the water. Do you let that dry before adding the colors? I agree that it takes a lot of studying and I have done much study and exercises from books. Putting it into a paintings is challenging but I learn from doing. Even when I do it wrong! I've started painting outdoors more and that will help. I like this painting in spite of the weak areas. The main reason I've been trying to paint original compositions is to discover my style. So I study. Then I plan the painting. Then I paint with emotion, which for me means without being too critical as I go along. When I finish, I analyze it very critically. It is interesting that when I analyzed this painting I had some thoughts along the ideas you mentioned. So I must be learning :) Thanks for your encouragement. I always feel honored that you would take the time to help people newer to painting like myself. You are so gifted and I know it has come from a lot of hard work!

Comment by Michael J. Severin on May 26, 2014 at 16:59: Linda. I really admire your strong persistence, fortitude, and eagerness to learn the craft of painting. I know you put a lot effort into your painting endeavors, and like all of us, you want to make good pictures,you want to learn this stuff .. ..don't we all!! I do not know how much effort you put into studying ..books, workshops, art school, etc. There are so many aspects of painting that you must have a working knowledge of ..composition, color theory, value, drawing, etc. ... and in each one of those, there are so many things to learn and comprehend..These are the basic foundations that must be learned to some degree. I strongly and humbly suggest that you study and paint ....but take baby steps ...you are trying to tackle very complicated subject matter at this point in your art education. Study, study, study and paint, paint, paint ...but paint to learn a specific problem related to painting. Simplify your subject matter to simple still life, block studies, a piece of fruit, etc. ....doing this you will learn about color, form, shadows, texture ..without having the extreme pressure of painting a picture. Put some fruit or flowers on a table outside on a sunny day ..and really study it!!! ..paint it until you get it right ....one day, make it a point to study light and shadow, another day how light effects color, another day, composition. Pretty soon you will start moving on to more difficult subject matter. Painting from photographs without the knowledge of how color and value are effected by light and the atmosphere is deadly to your understanding of painting. Lay off the photographs and go out to your yard and paint something ..anything. You cannot go outside and go paint the grand canyon ...stay around your yard or neighborhood and paint very simple subject matter. You will amazed at how color and value work in life ...you will not get that from photos ..they do not really give you that truth.

Comment by Michael J. Severin on May 26, 2014 at 16:27: Hi Linda. In response to your request for my feedback, this is what I came up with. I cropped it and desaturated it. You have 5 masses ..the dark tree mass (including the shadow), the foreground light mass, the middle value mass of the water, the light middle value mass of the mountain, and the light mass of the sky. This is your composition in a 10 x 8 format. You will want to re design those shadows across the river. In this photo, the lights of the trees look the same value as the ground ..they are not ..paint the trees as your dark value. A shaft of light hitting the river at the far end ..coming from behind the dark shadowed trees will be your focal point. That will be your lightest light against your darkest dark (the photo does not show this ...Okay, paint the background trees cooler and lighter value then your foreground trees ...think atmospheric perspective all the time. Downplay your mountain ...it will be a cool blue/violet ..a little darker in value then the sky, but lighter in value then the trees in front of it. Make sure you do not paint the shadows on the trees or water as dark as this photo is showing. Since there is so much green, I would suggest you block in your first layer for the trees with burnt sienna ..over that your darks, mid tones, and lights will happen. Play up the transparency of the water by first painting it with a transparent wash of yellow ocher and a little burnt sienna, or yellow and Aliz. crim. ...something warm and transparent ...a wash though. over that you will paint the colors you see. I think if you get this far, the rest of the painting will "tell" you what to do. ...Happy painting Linda. :)

Comment by Linda L. Kano on May 26, 2014 at 14:48: This was the photo I used as my reference for this painting. I left out the tree/foliage on the left because I thought it was too much. The stream showed up several places along the highway. Wish I would have had my paints with me that day. Feedback is always welcome. Thanks Laura and Rose for taking time to comment on my painting!