"Bohemian Rhapsody" 10x8" Oil on Board

 

 

Hi All, still on holiday in our borrowed horse truck, staying at a friend's riverside farm at the back of Pataua. It's a real bohemian experience here. Last night we had our first outdoor bath under the stars which was heated underneath by a wood fire. There's practically no power, drop toilet outside, scarce tank water, and everything is perfect.

 

After a 15 minute search of the hilltop it was this little collage of colored shapes that caught my eye more than all the beautiful scenery. I just loved the intense afternoon light raking across this simple scene. It may not be the most picturesque subject in the world but I felt that it captured some of the nature of this place, especially with the bath tub sitting there in the grass, which is how we feel in this place, like visitors rather than permanent fixtures.

 

I'm a little dissatisfied with the fairly flat character of the paintwork in this one, but quite happy with the coloring and drawing which came out pretty well considering the speed with which I attacked this painting. I hope my next painting, if I do it soon enough, will use more paint, applied in a more exciting manner. The simpler the subject the easier it is for me to play with ideas like paint application and fiddling with color and contrast etc. The more complex a scene, the more I tend to get caught up with getting all that detail down in a believable way. This was a fairly simple subject with all its flat surfaces and straight edges, hence my slight disappointment in not nailing this the first time. Many people might think I'm being over critical, but I think the more critical you are of your own work the better it will eventually be (so long as you intend doing something about it.)

 

Anyway, I'm enjoying this outdoor painting lark more and more - it can be a real struggle at times, but it's SO rewarding! Go on, you know you want to give it a go. I dare ya.

 

The palette for this painting was pthalo blue, alizarine crimson, cad red scarlet, cad orange, cad yellow light and titanium white.

 

Addendum:  A friend we stayed with, Laughton King (Pschologist, Counsellor, Mediator, Trainer, Author, and all round great guy) has some very powerful teaching concerning the dyslexic learners amongst us, many of whom are artists because they tend to think in pictures rather than words. So if you fall into that category of learner or know someone who does I recommend checking out the books available on his website: http://www.dyslexiadismantled.com

 

Laughton's partner Natalie Tate (a long time friend of mine) is a great portrait artist worth investigating too: http://www.natalieart.com

 

 

 

 

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Comment by Richard Robinson on January 21, 2011 at 20:58
not really notan, just the colour pic converted to black and white. Notan usually has no greys in it - just black and white.
Comment by Lyndon Baxter on January 21, 2011 at 20:33

(I added a bit more yellow than white to keep the chroma higher) and I darkened the sky to make allowance for this as I wanted to keep those two values the same because that's how I was seeing it (and I also knew that blue and orange together at the same value would create a greater vibrancy).

Yes, I can see what you mean Richard.... another question is the photo on the right what is known as a notan?

BTW, I didn't say how much I enjoyed your painting ...tops!!

Comment by Richard Robinson on January 21, 2011 at 20:25

Thanks Lyndon. I wasn't really trying to push the colours in this one however. I was just trying to paint what I was seeing. The colour discrepancy between the painting and photo is very misleading and is caused by the differences in camera and computer screen. The only things I remember pushing a bit were the sunlit triangle of orange yellow on the building (I added a bit more yellow than white to keep the chroma higher) and I darkened the sky to make allowance for this as I wanted to keep those two values the same because that's how I was seeing it (and I also knew that blue and orange together at the same value would create a greater vibrancy).

 

As for choosing the subject, I was really just interested in the shapes as an abstract pattern, which you can see more clearly rotated and blurred as below.

 

 

Comment by Lyndon Baxter on January 21, 2011 at 19:27

OH to have the "artist's eye", Richard, I would never have thought of painting that particular scene or used the colours that you chose.

Ah well, back to the drawing board, er easel!

Comment by Karlo Bonacic on January 19, 2011 at 12:45
Nice - incredible shadows !
Comment by Richard Robinson on January 14, 2011 at 16:08
:-) Shucks. Thanks Peter.

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