Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Unfinished Painting---Two Awful Landscapes!


Unfinished Painting---Two Completely Awful Landscapes!



These two paintings are almost completely unusable.  The landscape with mountains and a cabin is part of a demonstration for a beginner's landscape painting class that I taught.  While it was O.K. for a demo, it has nothing in it that is special, sparks an emotion, or is interesting at all.  Now, I could scrap this with no regrets, or I could try to salvage it by reworking the composition, the color, and the mood.  What do you think I should do?



The deer in the woods painting has a bit more going for it.  Keep in mind that it has only been based in, and no detail or rework on the deer has been done.  The abstract qualities of the trees are workable.  The color palette is a challenge.  What do you do with a winter scene if it is, in reality, brown and white?  You take artistic license and look for color in the shadows and light!  This is where working from a photo is a definite disadvantage.  I took this photo in Wyoming 18 years ago.  Not only was the camera quality a problem, the photo itself tends to flatten, to sap color from the landscape.  If I decide to finish this painting, several things will have to be worked on.  Adding a more painterly, less detailed finish would be an option.  Adding blue or purple in the shadows, warming up the sunlight is another.  It would definitely be a challenge.

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