Twilight panic #2

[MurrayG]

Hi folks, well, I got a classic sunset last night. In truth, I made some touchups and adjustments today to the sea so not 100% pleinair.
Another last minute decision and grabbed all the wrong stuff. Grey pastelmat, Rembrandt's instead of Sennelier etc.
The light &sea changed just as fast. There really were no waves, a mirror with patches of breeze ruffles. I cropped down to 25x20cm, same as the first.
This is roughly between the two reference photos. There was a slight hazyness, barely clouds. The colour on the sea was actually more intense but I felt I had to moderate for balance etc.
I feel like is "ok" but just misses...

It was like this for a few minutes

Then this

And ended up using a led headlamp again...

 

[snoball]

You made a very pleasing painting from it in any case. You need to take that glorious light in the last photo back to the studio and make it into another winner.

 

[MurrayG]

Thanks Sno for the encouragement. I may well do, I'm being hassled to do that, but you are right, it's a studio job.

 

[txomsy]

Well, I think the near miss might just be that it can be perceived as relatively too plain. I know that's its allure, but cannot avoid feeling that a focal point like the boat in the middle picture would have greatly contributed to make a connection. Just an opinion, don't go and do it now and spoil your work just because of it.
One of the most frustrating experiences when taking a pic in such a setup is that by the time you get the image framed and composed, the focal point (bird, boat, plane, cloud...) has changed/morphed or fled away. The nice thing about painting is that once you have seen it, you can remember and put it in place, even better, you can take license and place it wherever it bet suits your composition, something you can't do in photography. And all in plein air, no need to delay it to studio. You can even follow the subject out of frame to paint it where it was when you wanted it, even if it is no longer there.

 

[john]

Nice work Murray. Plein air is meant for photography so the moment can be captured properly.

 

[Donna T]

I love the catchy title, Murray. Anyone who has ever attempted to paint a sunrise or sunset can relate! The photos are nice but they aren’t the same as the image filtered through a human’s mind and hand. You did a great job with this! I see sort of a Rothko look with the bands of colors separated by the strip of land.

 

[Grapes]

Murray, this is excellent! Pleinair sunsets are so challenging. I like your title "Twilight Panic" because that's what they are. I don't know how can a pleinair painter avoid the panic feeling? Maybe painting hundreds and hundreds of pleinair sunsets? Like Scott Christensen says in his pleinair teaching video: "You need to pull many pleinair sunsets until you start getting them right and good luck out there."

 

[MurrayG]

Hi Txomsy. Thanks for all the thought you put into that! I have to admit, I often don't plan my pleinairs, my main draw to the genre is the escape from a camera perspective as I find the scales are different and colours rarely true. In this case, the view is so massive, that was the "focus" along with colour, which I "missed" and tried to capture the subtle sea texture & sky gradation.....
I lost it a bit cos I picked up mid grey pastelmat instead of warm tone. Then my senneliers were on the top floor! Then the panic. So all the richness was lost. AHH well.
Thanks again.

 

[MurrayG]

Murray, this is excellent! Pleinair sunsets are so challenging. I like your title "Twilight Panic" because that's what they are. I don't know how can a pleinair painter avoid the panic feeling? Maybe painting hundreds and hundreds of pleinair sunsets? Like Scott Christensen says in his pleinair teaching video: "You need to pull many pleinair sunsets until you start getting them right and good luck out there."

Hi Grapes, so true! Every pleinair I do is a struggle, lost if cussing, sweat and frustration, kind of adrenalin junkie. Thanks for the hint with Scott, must check that out.

 

[MurrayG]

Hi John and Donna, thanks for those thoughts, much appreciated.

 

[txomsy]

Hi, MurrayG, you are mostly welcome. Personally, I do not see the colors so off, but I wasn't there. I like the result very much anyway.