Country Road

[john]

This is an old painting that I just did some mods on to get it out the door. Now that I have I almost want to keep it. It's a scene from a photo I took during a road trip. This was one of the first acrylics I did after just using watercolor and I realize now that there is no end to an acrylic painting. I just give up. I could make stuff more real. But no. But I don't like the flatness of the field on the left.. and it's too green.......and ...... I need to sell this painting or it will drive me nuts.

Acrylic 12x16 inches

 

[Donna T]

I can see why you'd want to keep this one, John. It has a wonderfully rural and peaceful feel and I could imagine myself being there walking down that road on a warm day. Sometimes making things more real takes away from the feel of a piece. If you can relate to this painting the way it is then I guarantee at least one other person on this earth will too.

 

[Triduana]

It's a very inviting road, I love all that greenery and I like how individual trees stand out. I really like it

 

[Arnie]

Lovely rural scene, with interesting composition, with the winding undulating road curving into the dip on the horizon. Like the inclusion of the red building adding warmth.

 

[Artyczar]

I love the texture. It's a gooder!

 

[CaliAnn]

Love that road and the texture of the foliage is awesome!

 

[john]

Thanks a bunch guys. Yeah it's OK but ...now I see what bothers me. Now that I posted it. Thanks Ayin about the texture but I think that now there is too much. Was that a subtle hint? The fields were flatter and way too bright yellow green before, and I dappled dark green over them but now they're too rough. I need to get those fields smoother and maybe less saturated.

 

[Artyczar]

You think I was hinting that it was too much texture? There couldn't be enough in my book. That's really what it has going for it and how the sky kinda fades out more than the bottom (green part) of the picture. I like this one a lot John. The only thing I would maybe suggest is the road sign. If it were me, and you are NOT me, I would make that have a little more interest, but not enough to distract from the overall painting, because it's a great piece. I don't know if I would write anything clearly on it, like "Eat at Joes" or something, but maybe a faded-out picture of a coffee cup torn away, or something to that effect. Or keep it the way it is--there's an idea!!!

 

[john]

You think I was hinting that it was too much texture? There couldn't be enough in my book. That's really what it has going for it and how the sky kinda fades out more than the bottom (green part) of the picture. I like this one a lot John. The only thing I would maybe suggest is the road sign. If it were me, and you are NOT me, I would make that have a little more interest, but not enough to distract from the overall painting, because it's a great piece. I don't know if I would write anything clearly on it, like "Eat at Joes" or something, but maybe a faded-out picture of a coffee cup torn away, or something to that effect. Or keep it the way it is--there's an idea!!!

Thanks Ayin. I guess you just got me thinking about the texture and went into my hypercritical mode.

Road sign? That's supposed to be a barn. Goes to show that what other people see in one's art may not be the artist sees.

I just can't seem to get the grass green to something I like. It doesn't help that acrylics seem to dry darker. I still can't get used to that.

This painting is driving me nuts. I really hope I can sell it.

 

[classic]

Hello.
Since yesterday I look again and again at your painting, trying to better understand your technique and borrow some of your secrets. Being novice, I try to learn from the work of experienced artists. Incidentally, I tried lately some imaginary landscapes including mountains and sky (cheap acrylics on A5 size paper). I love your trees and the wood in the background.
What I remark is that the lower half is very luminous by a bright sun (bright saturated colors, net shadows). The upper half is covered (darker, less saturated). There is no transition zone from the sunny part to the covered part. The visible sky is entirely covered by heavy clouds. It isn't obvious where the clouds begin, somehow out of the frame. It would perhaps interesting to leave a part of the sky uncovered and make a transition by adding some brighter and darker details.

 

[john]

OK Done. I grudgingly like it now. For this painting I had taken the original photo and ran it through some software to take out all the detail and amp colors up. Since then I lost the original so this is like a copy of a copy of something.

Ayin I'm glad you commented about the sign/barn. I never really liked it as a sloppy amorphous shape of something. It had no presence. It does now and I like it much better

I used high gloss Liquitex varnish on this for the first time and it's cool how it brings out the colors and contrast. Plus it's thinner and levels out the paper texture so even though it's high gloss there is interestingly less reflection from the texture.

 

[john]

Hello.
Since yesterday I look again and again at your painting, trying to better understand your technique and borrow some of your secrets. Being novice, I try to learn from the work of experienced artists. Incidentally, I tried lately some imaginary landscapes including mountains and sky (cheap acrylics on A5 size paper). I love your trees and the wood in the background.
What I remark is that the lower half is very luminous by a bright sun (bright saturated colors, net shadows). The upper half is covered (darker, less saturated). There is no transition zone from the sunny part to the covered part. The visible sky is entirely covered by heavy clouds. It isn't obvious where the clouds begin, somehow out of the frame. It would perhaps interesting to leave a part of the sky uncovered and make a transition by adding some brighter and darker details.

Thanks, but my technique is to bash my paintings into something that looks OK by applying paint somehow, then wiping out when it doesn't look right, painting it over or getting it out my sight, all the while my eye reminds me that I'm not really sure about what I'm doing.

Your critique is valid and is another example of the artist knowing about the painting, because they are painting it, vs the public looking at it for the first time. The "sky" is actually background hills. The photo I started with was a bit telephoto/magnified and the road was downhill. I can see why you see it as sky. I did think about that afterwards. Hey John you have no sky.

I suspect that most artists see their paintings differently than how the public sees them. Good thing for the artist to keep this visual bias in mind. We have to always ask ourselves.....how does this look to others?

 

[Artyczar]

Okay, NOW I see a barn, but you should not take what I said about the "sign" as reality because I often look at everything (all art) in abstract ways, and it's hard for me to see realism in most things unless it's hyperrealism or photographs. It's true. I had to just put a quick guess in there as I drove up the road what I may have been seeing and I thought an old road sign, but it's distinctively a barn now (for me). I think you really improved this piece tenfold!

 

[Donna T]

The changes you made were just right, John. It does look more barn-like now but I'm glad you didn't get carried away. Now that it's varnished I hope it will stop bugging you.

 

[john]

Of course I got carried away and yes it's still bugging me. And a coat of varnish doesn't stop me. I think I'm level six now.

What most was bothering me was the high key green. So I literally just bravely glazed orange over it figuring what do I have to lose. It worked. And now the new horizon/sky makes more sense and is more interesting. But now I want to add a bicyclist and a sailboat. And something on the left to contain the eye. But then that's it. Probably. I look forward to getting it out of here for a least a little while. It's like the painting that refuses to be totally made.

I want to thank you guys for your views. It really helped. Now that I'm going to be putting my art out in public it's important to know what the public might think. It's one thing painting for oneself. Then all that matters is what you think. But what I think is often not what others think. I've learned that. LOL.

Going forward I'm going to ask for and value critiques/views from you guys more than I have. Please let me know if something bothers you about any of paintings, no matter how good they may be hahah.


OK so current version. A cyclist and sailboat in the distance would be nice right?

Critiques welcome.

 

[Artyczar]

Keeps looking better to me!

...don't touch it.

 

[john]

Keeps looking better to me!

...don't touch it.

Yeah thanks. I agree. I think adding a cyclist and especially a sail boat would be trite. Folks want an open road without any other humans in their way. It's interesting how much the addition of people to a landscape changes the meaning the painting. I'm wrestling with that one now.

It actually looks better than the pic. That's not always true. It's much less bright in real life. It's actually approachable now. More subdued than the image above.

Still getting used to acrylics. They seem like a double edged sword. It's a hate then love thing.

Hope you are feeling better and can get back to your wonderful art.

 

[classic]

I love it. Much deeper and easier to understand immediately.

 

[Donna T]

Wow! The changes you made give it a much sunnier look, John, and I'm glad the orange glazes worked for you. I won't miss any boat or cyclist either.

 

[john]

I love it. Much deeper and easier to understand immediately.

Thanks. So glad you spoke up about how you saw it. It's a better painting now because you did.