I spent most of yesterday fixing paintings (based on the critiques I received on this blog) and I started a new sunset painting that isn’t quite ready to photograph.
First, Rocky Mountain Stream. I had some trouble with this one. I felt the color of the stream was too saturated (and you agreed), but when I fixed that problem, it still didn’t feel quite right. I then realized that the stream wasn’t integrated into the composition. Both the level of color saturation and its position in the design made it feel like a “painting within a painting”. To fix it, I both desaturated the water colors, then added the golden ground cover through the marsh reeds to meet the water. I broke that line of reeds which acted as a wall within the painting. This seemed to do the trick. I also made some small changes, such as adding additional light to some of the trees. In all now, I’m happy with this once.
The top painting on the right is the original, the painting lower is the latest…possibly final painting. Who knows, another change may come to mind.
I fixed the Colorado Sky painting. I moved back the trees on the right. Click here to view the latest.
Perfect.
Ed, Very nice. The first photo of the painting shows the mountains very turquoise tinted and the water blue on my monitor. Therefore my comment about adding green to the water! Evidently it was the photo, because now they read very connected in tone and the changes you made make it “Perfect” as Jeff said. Good work.
Thanks, Jo. I didn’t change the color of the background hills, that’s just based on digital camera lighting at the time. I think it’s closer to the green version.
Ah! good thinking about the integration Ed, reads more friendly now. Guess indeed that the hard line of the pond was drawing a lot of attention, now the eye walks easier further into the painting. Nice to see the difference.
Hi,
Forgive me for just jumping into a conversation I have not been part of before!
Personally I still think the colors look a little overly saturated. At least on my Apple screen. May be not just the stream but the greens in the foreground as well.
I just browsed through your site and I really appreciate a lot of your work!
Jan (male swede)
Ed….I like seeing the before and after because I didn’t know what kind of work you did “in the studoio” afterward. The first image was way too blue on my monitor and I found your evaluation of the rear marsh creating a boundary amazing. What a difference. The stream still looks too blue to me, especially if the more subdued sky is what is reflecting in it. Thanks for your on-line education!
Deb