Sunday, March 31, 2024

Still houseless…


 This house portrait is testing my patience. I kind of ruined the side of the house in the first one, plus the mask didn’t all come off . Anyways I’m using the first one as a test, trying out pen and ink and different ways of interpreting clapboard. The second one I’m trying to go simple & not overwork the details. 



In the meantime I worked up these two sketches kind of quickly just to paint something more interesting. I will say the house portrait is exposing my painting weak spots, ie , planning. For example I never wrote down what blues and other mixtures I was using. I don’t pay attention to what brushes I’m using. I didn’t even test colors before I started to paint the first house…I could go on and on, but you get the drift….

4 comments:

  1. The last painting is just lovely as is. What if you approached the house painting that way? Of course the house owners probably wouldn't like it, but you would. Otherwise, the first house painting is just fine for a commission. I don't know what to say about the waterfall one. It's just sort of odd compositionally, but not bad.

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  2. If that house does not bring you joy I say abandon it, aren't you painting to have fun? I like the water in the waterfall, but what is that hooman doing there? I'd say paint the waterfall by itself, or maybe the hooman by herself. They just don't seem to have anything to do with each other.

    I love the flower, the shimmery background, the window that looks like it is floating in space, its reflection on the glass table, the graceful lines, and the shadings of the colors dropped in. It fits one of my rules of composition in that it looks like it was dashed off in a few minutes by someone who knows what they are doing.

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  3. Someone's been busy! I love the flower still life. The reflections, the colors, the delicate balance between line and wash...everything about it is serene, elegant and perfect. I like the way you handled the clapboard by just hinting at it instead of defining every one. I don't see any problems with the first version, but your second and third versions are always good, so go for it! All the elements of the waterfall painting are really well done, but maybe just need to be moved around a bit.

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  4. Don’t listen to Ken. I’ve been in this exact position standing in front of a waterfall. We can be too analytical. Sometimes just paint. Like the still life. I don’t know what to say about the house. I think you’re very close but you just need to finish the details like Greeta said last week.

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