I learned quite a few different things...things I guess maybe I always knew because I did them...but these times I paid more attention to "detail". Emotionally as well as visually as I painted this, and the prior painting......
In my newest painting it didn't come CLOSE to being what I had envisioned when I began. It was to be a larger (8 x 10") of the one I finished which is shown directly below this post..... and I just sat and painted....didn't plan, didn't think ahead, just painted and it just seemed to materialize.
With this painting I used ; I think, 5 colors .... my good ole' standby Dynasty Foliage and Dry Brushes in their Designer series, the Soft Body Liquitex paints in artist grade... (comes in a small jar (my preference) or a tube. The paints are more of a velvety look .... not matte or satin and far from glossy finish. The look with Liquitex is the look that I personally prefer...plus I know the QUALITY is there in the paints. The canvas I use is artist portrait grade hand wrapped boards and the Liquitex on these canvas pieces is perfect coverage the first time.
With landscapes; although there is a wide range of shades;;;; and there are highlights it is not the labor intensive shading and highlighting from decorative painting days..... BUT.... the same wonderful technique guidelines are used so we still touch base with our roots in painting...or in anything creative we might do...
My brushes..... I LOVE the Dynasty designer series as well as a few of the IPC brushes for foliage,,, and once again I am finding I use the dry brushes as a regular brush because I like the look I get....but I have my favorites in the Eye of the Tiger brushes, and their liner brushes.... For me it all just works together and for me that is half the battle....using what wors and what gives me the results, I am looking for. I have to please myself before I can expect to please others....
When I used to teach I let my students use whatever brushes they wanted after they began to paint more on their own...as well as the sizes they used.... Each one had a different little quirk to their painting style......the only time I would make suggestions was if they were "stuck" then I would let them try my brush if it was different or a different size, etc. from what I had that I used until they found what worked and gave them the look they were wanting. I learned so much from those students.....
When I was finishing up the painting in the prior post I realized the difficulty some would have as they painted an 8 x 10 canvas using a 4 x 6 photo........ They only thing that picture provides that is concrete is inspiration..... or having a good eye and be able to transfer a small tree to a larger tree, add the foliage and get all of the other size features correct in miniature.....Some times it is important to me to be exact enough to have someone know where the landscape originated from and sometimes it is totally different from the photo........ artist choice(s).... and it is fun to take the journey when you don't know what you will encounter along the way or exactly where you will end up....
This painting has in it everything I love about scenery and a LOT of technique work. TREES (especially dead trees, birch, pine trees,) FOG or MIST, BUSHES, The MOON,
WATER, SHADOWS and HIGHLIGHTS, REFLECTIONS, IMPRESSIONISTIC BORDERINGS ON REALISM, CLOUDS, DEPTH, MYSTERY, IMAGINATIVE, and hopefully lures the viewer into the feeling within the painting itself....
I am pretty sure this painting is DONE.......it Feels done... I made a lot of corrections along the way to the finish line... Whoops, no it isn't. The last thing I will do is to flyspeck the entire piece,,, more heavily in the water with DecoArt Americana Glamour Dust Paints in ICE CRYSTAL.... one of my very favorite speciality paints. Just a little so that you always have to take a second look to see if you really DID see that little bit of sparkle.....
I "thought" this was "done".... lol.... Last night I pulled some really old painting books from Bonnie Seaman, Milton Lenoir, Joyce Beebe, Gene Waggoner....some of my favorite old classic artists and in one of them was a similar water scene with a canoe moored to the bank...so.... I drew a canoe the size I needed, and placed it on my painting to see first "if" I liked it..... and I do so later today, tonight or tomorrow a canoe is going in the design..... Since the painting is pretty monotone....it will add just a burst of color that may (or may not) make a big difference in the finished piece.....????
I personally think that the mat is just as important as the painting....and even the choice in a frame.
When I sell this it will be matted but I will leave the framing to the buyer..... The colors in the bottom one are pretty close to what the painting really looks right....but then again it was taken at night under artificial light....
